Louis I. Kahn: Light, Pastel, Eternity

Summary

The lecture by Michael Lewis delves into the architectural journey of Louis I. Kahn, highlighting his transformative trips to Europe and the evolution of his design philosophy. Lewis explores Kahn's early struggles and the pivotal moment when Kahn integrated his classical and modernist influences, leading to the creation of the iconic Bryn Mawr dormitory. The talk underscores Kahn's unique approach to architecture as an expression of feeling, culminating in his renowned works like the Kimbell Art Museum and the Salk Institute, which redefined modernist principles by reintroducing the significance of rooms and walls.

Takeaways

• 🎨 Louis Kahn's travel sketches significantly influenced his architectural development, reflecting a deep exploration of volume, form, and the essence of architecture.
• 🌈 Kahn's use of pastels in his later sketches indicated a shift towards studying architecture in terms of color and light, which was a departure from traditional methods focusing on solids and voids.
• 🏛 The Kimbell Art Museum, a unique work in Kahn's portfolio, showcases his ability to create a structure that appears effortless and free, akin to poetry or music.
• 📈 Kahn's design process involved a struggle to harmoniously integrate small and large spaces into a coherent whole, reflecting his training at the École des Beaux-Arts.
• 🔄 Kahn's architectural journey was marked by a split between his poetic, emotional paintings and his rational, objective architectural designs, which later converged into a unified approach.
• 🏗️ Kahn's early work focused on functional buildings, such as social housing, during the Depression era, which was a shift from the monumental, civic buildings he was initially trained to design.
• 🌟 His second trip to Europe in 1951 was a turning point where he confidently drew major monuments, indicating a maturation in his architectural philosophy and a move away from modernist orthodoxy.
• 🏢 The design of the Richards Medical Research Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania marked a pivotal moment where Kahn began to integrate his love for pictorial form and mathematical order into his architecture.
• ⛓ Kahn's architecture is characterized by a return to the expressive use of the axis and the reintroduction of the enclosed room and solid wall, elements that had been minimized in modernist architecture.
• 🧱 The use of brick and the emphasis on the thickness of walls in Kahn's designs contributed to the expressive nature of his architecture, which was a departure from the modernist trend of dematerialization.
• 🕍 Kahn's architecture is not just a solution to a problem but an expression of feeling, often reflecting a sense of the sacred or the poetic, as seen in his late works like the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

Q & A

Who is the speaker introduced by Nancy Edwards in the script?

The speaker introduced by Nancy Edwards is Michael Lewis, the Faison-Pierson-Stoddard Professor of Art History at Williams College.

What is the subject of the exhibition 'The Power of Architecture: Louis Kahn'?

The exhibition 'The Power of Architecture: Louis Kahn' is focused on the architectural works and sketches of Louis I. Kahn, organized by the Vitra Design Museum and displayed in the Kahn Building.

What is the significance of Louis Kahn's travel sketches according to Michael Lewis?

According to Michael Lewis, Louis Kahn's travel sketches are fundamental to the development of his architecture, as they represent his exploration and understanding of volume, form, color, and light in relation to architectural structures.

How did Louis Kahn's architectural approach evolve from his first to his second trip to Europe?

Kahn's approach evolved from tentative and restless drawings during his first trip in 1928, focused on volume and form, to bolder and more ambitious pastel drawings during his second trip in 1951, where he studied architecture in terms of color and light.

What is unique about the Kimbell Art Museum designed by Louis Kahn?

The Kimbell Art Museum is unique because it represents Kahn's work at the top of his game, with a kind of unshackled freedom typically associated with poetry or music, and it is referred to as a 'unicum', a one-of-a-kind work.

What was the impact of the Great Depression on Louis Kahn's architectural career?

The Great Depression led to Kahn being let go by his employer, Paul Cret, and experiencing a period of unemployment. It also shifted the architectural landscape, with society demanding functional buildings in a modern style rather than the classical style Kahn was trained in.

What role did Anne Tyng play in the Bryn Mawr College dormitory project?

Anne Tyng, a co-designer with expertise in modular geometry, produced a design for the Bryn Mawr College dormitory with octagonal dorm rooms. However, Kahn was initially dubious about her design and eventually developed his own design for the project.

How did Louis Kahn's architectural style differ from the modernist architects of his time?

While modernist architects like Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier focused on functional buildings with minimal ornamentation and historical references, Kahn was more interested in the expressive potential of space and the integration of classical and modernist elements in his designs.

What was the turning point for Louis Kahn in integrating his artistic and architectural sensibilities?

The turning point for Kahn was his second trip to Europe in 1951, where he confidently drew major monuments using pastels. This trip allowed him to embrace his artistic side and integrate it with his architectural work, leading to a unified approach.

What is the main architectural lesson Louis Kahn learned from his travels and studies?

The main lesson Kahn learned was that a building is not just a solution to a problem but an expression of feeling. He brought back the concept of the room as a fundamental unit of architectural expression and the solid walled room as a dignified space for human action.

How did Louis Kahn's early struggles with the Bryn Mawr College project contribute to his architectural development?

The struggles with the Bryn Mawr College project led Kahn to experiment with different designs and eventually integrate geometric order with the expressive potential of space. This process contributed to the development of his signature architectural style.