Eric A. Kahn, beloved son, husband, devoted father, architect, conceptual artist and longtime professor at Southern California Institute of Architecture, died of heart failure on June 2, 2014 at the age of 57.
A senior design studio faculty at SCI-Arc for 25 years, Kahn was instrumental in opening the minds of several generations of students with whom he shared his deep love for architecture.
From an early age Kahn possessed a knack for expression and exploration in art and music. And his raw energy coupled with an ability to connect to people made him a brilliant and inspiring teacher. SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss noted that “Kahn was a powerful and enduring intellectual and emotive presence at SCI-Arc.”
In addition to his long tenure at SCI-Arc, Kahn was a guest professor at universities in Mexico; University of Arizona; University of Michigan; University of Arkansas; SCI-Arc in Vico-Morcote, Switzerland; and the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen, Denmark.
An experienced and highly influential educator, Kahn believed that no line should exist between the academic pursuits of his students and those of his own professional work. He always sought to bring the discourse of architecture to the highest level and stressed architecture’s broad scope to both examine culture and to speculate about how it is able to inform and ultimately improve the human condition.
Son of an Amsterdam-born aerospace engineer, Benjamin Kahn, and a New York-born textile designer, Jean Kahn, he grew up in a Jewish household in Pacific Palisades and made Los Angeles his home.
The city was the inescapable, underlying background for a life of day-to-day inquiries into the meaning, purpose and possibilities of architecture.
Always with a fountain pen handy, his inveterate sketch book was emblazoned into his character and personal presentation.
After graduating in 1981 from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Architecture degree, Kahn went on to work for several prominent architects, including SuperStudio in Florence, Italy; Gene Summers in Newport Beach, California; and in Los Angeles at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Morphosis.
In 1987 he formed his own firm, Central Office of Architecture, in Los Angeles with school friends Russell Thomsen and Ron Golan. For the next 21 years they made buildings in Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo.
Their clients included the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, the Getty Center, the Los Angeles Community College District and many private individuals. The firm was the recipient of multiple awards, including one from Progressive Architecture and two from the Architectural League of New York.
In subsequent years, Kahn and Thomsen transformed the firm into IDEA, carrying on the work to include not only architecture but also art installations and speculations about culture.
Their final and yet uncompleted work together was a self-initiated project dealing with the future of the concentration camps at Auschwitz, for which they received a grant from the Graham Foundation for the Arts in Chicago.
Kahn’s book, Anatomy of Observation was published by Sci-Arc in 1998. His most recent work, Proof of Architecture, awaits publication.
He is survived by his wife Patricia, mother Jean, son Isaac, brothers Jory and Alan and extended family and friends who miss him dearly.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Museum of Tolerance, 9786 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035.
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