Albert Kahn

by Federico Bucci

Albert Kahn's contribution to North American industrial architecture is best characterized by a simplicity of expression in his designs of flexible spaces for manufacturing and production. Working in Detroit, Kahn began a long and fruitful collaboration with the automobile mogul Henry Ford, that was based on a shared vision of modernism and industry. Kahn rapidly established himself as an architect capable of responding to the new demands of mass production by employing the patented system of reinforced concrete developed by his brother, an engineer. Guided by functionalist principles and a sense of manufacturing organizations, Kahn anticipated assembly line operations and developed innovative typological characteristics for the modern factory. His projects included Ford Motor Company River Rouge Plant, Dearborn, Michigan; Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Detroit, Michigan; Tractor Plant, Stalingrad, Russia; General Motors Building, Chicago World's Fair; and Kellogg Company, Battle Cr