2024-04-30T22:24:36-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150023245/every-city-needs-a-crank-a-conversation-with-architecture-critic-inga-saffron Paul Petrunia 2017-08-17T20:07:00-04:00 >2021-10-12T01:42:58-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/84/84yfg1m764pd6zye.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>This week we're joined by Inga Saffron, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer. If you haven't read her latest piece on Henry Wilcots, the relatively unknown architect responsible for finishing Louis Kahn's masterpiece in Dhaka, <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/inga_saffron/the-overlooked-african-american-architect-who-completed-louis-kahns-masterpiece-20170814.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">go read it now</a>. We talk with Inga about her experience meeting with Wilcots, architecture criticism pre and post-internet, Philadelphia and more.</p> <p></p> <figure><p><a href="http://cdn.archinect.net/uploads/m0/m0aw9lnd0gtcqi9b." rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1028x/m0/m0aw9lnd0gtcqi9b.jpg"></a></p><figcaption>Photo from 1970 of Wilcots and Kahn discussing the roof structure of the National Assembly building in Dhaka, Bangladesh.</figcaption></figure><p>Listen to "Every City Needs a Crank":</p> <ul><li><strong>iTunes</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/archinect-sessions/id928222819" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Click here to listen</a>, and click the "Subscribe" button below the logo to automatically download new episodes.</li><li><strong>Apple Podcast App (iOS)</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="pcast://archinect.libsyn.com/rss" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">click here to subscribe</a></li><li><strong>SoundCloud</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="http://soundcloud.com/archinect" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">click here to follow Archinect</a></li><li><strong>RSS</strong>:&nbsp;subscribe&nbsp;with any of your favorite podcasting apps via our RSS feed:&nbsp;<a href="http://archinect.libsyn.com/rss" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://archinect.libsyn.com/rss</a></li><li><strong>Download</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/archinect/Archinect-Sessions-107.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this episode</a></li></ul> https://archinect.com/news/article/150022624/meet-henry-wilcots-the-overlooked-african-american-architect-who-completed-louis-kahn-s-dhaka-national-assembly Justine Testado 2017-08-14T13:59:00-04:00 >2024-01-23T19:16:08-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/04/04lacg44498e8mim.png?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>It would be the decisive moment in Wilcots&rsquo; life. By saying yes, he ended up devoting more than 20 years to helping Kahn build the new capital...The meetings would cause him to move to Philadelphia, a place that at the time seemed to him far less welcoming to African Americans than Dhaka. When Kahn suffered a fatal heart attack in 1974...Wilcots would assume the awesome task of finishing a Louis Kahn masterpiece.</p></em><br /><br /><p>This article sheds light on the story of Henry Wilcots (now 89 years old), the much overlooked architect who was responsible for completing Louis Kahn's Dhaka National Assembly masterpiece. Dubbed as the &ldquo;Kahn whisperer&rdquo; by fellow colleagues, the calm-and-collected Wilcots was able to have a smooth working relationship with Kahn, the article says.</p>