Great Masters
Louis Isadore Kahn (1901-1974) was one of the great masters of twentieth
century architecture. His work was based on the principles of modern
architecture abstraction while he resorted to classical monumentality, patent
in many of his projects. Kahn was also considered the architect of light.
After emigrating to the United States at four years old, Kahn was admitted
in 1920 at the School of Fine Arts in Pennsylvania. In 1924 he qualified as an
architect. After several collaborations and traveling in Europe, he founded his
own design studio in Philadelphia.
Kahn's work is characterized by abstraction of architecture, simplicity
and greatness of forms and a special care to daylight. His projects are defined
by polygons and polyhedra that are sorted to produce a monumental and elegant
architecture. Geometry is his guideline to project. The order is also very
important in the work of Kahn, because it explicitly determines the arrangement
of geometry.
However, the most important element in Kahn's architecture is light, as it
defines the volumes and spaces. For Kahn, light is a design element that gives
life to architecture projects. In today's notebook, we will briefly present one
of its most representative projects: The Kimbell Museum.
Louis I. Kahn in the Kimbell Museum.
The Kimbell Museum was a project built in 1972, in Forth Worth, Texas,
being commissioned by Kay Kimbell, to host his art collection.
The museum is based on an orthogonal arrangement of exhibition halls,
covered by 16 concrete vaults cycloid.
Model of the project.
The main façade is defined by an open porch on the first two cycloid
vaults, preceding the exhibition galleries.
Porch of the Kimbell Museum. Joe Mabel.
Each vault rests on four main pillars, so that the joint of the vault and
the wall allows a slit through which daylight penetrates into the porch.
Joint of vault and wall, creating a slit. Xavier Jaurebiguerri
The vaults covering the exhibition galleries are very interesting. Kahn
had a wide knowledge on the reflection of light, so he designed a skylight in
the keystone of the cycloid, to allow daylight into the galleries would agree.
Original section of the project
However, direct sunlight should be avoided in the galleries, as the
artwork can be damaged by radiation. Consequently, Kahn designed a reflector
under the skylight of the keystone, so that the light is leading on the vault
and the walls of the rooms. This is the result:
Kimbell Art Gallery
In short, this is one of the great works of contemporary architecture
that combines geometry, space, order and light.
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