Louis i kahn

Louis isadore kahn 1
Louis isadore
Kahn.....
Submitted by:
Amandeep kaur(Ar/10/604)
Dutika gautam (Ar/10/612)
Gayatri dutt sharma (Ar/10/613)

INTRODUCTION
• Louis Isadore Kahn (1901-1974), U.S. architect,
educator, and philosopher, is one of the foremost
twentieth-century architects.
• Born in 1901 on the Baltic island of Osel, Louis Isadore
Kahn's family emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
in 1905, where Louis Isadore Kahn lived the rest of his
life.
• Trained in the manner of the Ecole des Beaux Arts under
Paul Philippe Cret, Louis Isadore Kahn graduated from
the University of Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts in
1924.
• In the following years Louis Isadore Kahn worked in the
offices of Philadelphia's leading architects, Paul Cret
(1929-1930) and Zantzinger, Borie and Medary (1930-
1932).

 During the lean years of the 1930s, Louis Isadore
Kahn was devoted to the study of modern
architecture and housing in particular.
 Louis I. Kahn undertook housing studies for the
Architectural Research Group (1932-1933), a
short-lived organization Louis Isadore Kahn
helped to establish, and for the Philadelphia City
Planning Commission.
 The year 1947 was a turning point in Louis
Isadore Kahn 's career. Kahn established an
independent practice and began a distinguished
teaching career, first at Yale University as Chief
Critic in Architectural Design and Professor of
Architecture (1947-1957) and then at the
University of Pennsylvania as Cret Professor of
Architecture (1957-1974).

CHARACTERISTICS
• Louis I. Kahn evolved an original theoretical and
formal language that revitalized modern architecture.
• They reveal an integration of structure, a reverence
for materials and light, a devotion to archetypal
geometry, and a profound concern for humanistic
values.
• Eschewing the international style modernism that
characterized his earlier work, Kahn sought to
redefine the bases of architecture through a re-
examination of structure, form, space, and light.
• Beyond its functional role, Louis Isadore Kahn
believed architecture must also evoke the feeling and
symbolism of timeless human values.
• Louis I. Kahn attempted to explain the relationship
between the rational and romantic dichotomy in his
"form-design" thesis, a theory of composition
articulated in 1959.

PHILOSOPHY
• In his personal philosophy, form is
conceived as formless and
unmeasurable , a spiritual power
common to all mankind. It transcends
individual thoughts, feelings, and
conventions.
• Form characterizes the conceptual
essence of one project from another,
and thus it is the initial step in the
creative process.
• The union of form and design is
realized in the final product, and the
building's symbolic meaning is once
again unmeasurable.

ARCHITECTURE
IS THE
THOUGHTFUL
MAKING OF
SPACES

• Defined space by means of masonry
masses and a lucid structure laid out in
geometric, formal schemes and axial
layouts with a strong processional
character of space and images.
• Beaux-arts tradition- Neoclassical
architectural style, sculptural
decoration along conservative modern
lines.
• Natural Light-Brought architecture to
life.
• Modernisim.
• To design is to plan and to organize , to
order , to relate and to control in short
it embraces all means opposing
disorder and accident.
• Social responsibility reflected in his
later philosophy of the institutions of
man.
• Architecture is timeless.

SIGNIFICANT ELEMENTS OF
DESIGN
Kahn wanted to redefine the bases of architecture
through a re-examination of structure, form, space, and
light; since his earlier work abstained from the
international style modernism.
Earlier works of Kahn had a traditional international
style of architecture. However somewhere in the middle
of his career, Kahn turned his back on this traditional
approach and pursued innovation by redefining the use
of structure, light, form and space.
"Louis Kahn described his quest for meaningful form
as a search for "beginnings," a spiritual resource from
which modern man could draw inspiration“.

Kahn was also influenced by the part of Philadelphia
where he grew up. There were many factory buildings with
large windows. These brick structures were very solid. This
industrial design is apparent in several of Kahn's early
works.
Louis Kahn must be credited for re-introducing various
concepts which most of the modern architects had
deserted like centralized spaces, using extensive geometric
principles and demonstrating solid mural strength.
Kahn's buildings are admired for outstanding use of
geometric shapes and implementing platonic geometry
principles which creates magnificent experience for the
user.
 For Kahn it was NATURAL LIGHT that brought
architecture to life, the Artificial light had an unvarying
“DEAD” quality in contrast to the ever-changing daylight.
Kahn realised the importance of sunlight and was highly
impressed by its usage in Egyptians and Greek works.
Hence Kahn's works demonstrates wide-scale
implementation of sunlight through different kinds of
interesting windows and openings.

Kahn was known to appreciate the
appearance and feel of different materials
that he used in his work.
 Kahn is also known to have used brick
and concrete extensively and his
innovative usage of these materials
demonstrated his talent to the world.
Egyptian works also inspired Kahn to use
extensive geometric shapes and hence we
find many of his buildings taking shape of
squares, circles or triangles.

SERVED AND SERVENT.
1. SERVED-WORKING SPACES
2. SERVENT-SERVICE AREAS
In 1954, in his Yale Art Gallery the frame is
concealed while emphasis is placed on the
monumentalization of walls, floors, and
ceilings. The main orthogonal volume is
animated by a cylindrical form housing the
major access stair. Here, the cylinder is the
"servant" and the rectangle the "served" form.
This asymmetrical architecture depends no
longer on the manifestation of structure as
frame but rather on the manipulation of
surface as the ultimate agent for the revelation
of light, space and support.

EXAMPLES OF PROJECTS WHERE ELEMENTS OF
LOUIS KAHN DESIGN WERE IMPLEMENTED..
Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven,
Connecticut, 1951-1953).
Kahn's first architectural masterpiece.
the structural innovations demonstrated by
hollow tetrahedral concrete ceiling and floor
slab system.
Kahn's magnificent artistic sense can be seen
from the design of the triangle-shaped
staircase which sits in a rounded concrete
shell, defining the servant space to be
distinguished from the served spaces of the
building.
Richards Medical Research Building at the
University of Pennsylvania (1957-1965) and the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies (LaJolla,
California, 1959-1965) demonstrated
magnificent use of spaces and is the primarily
responsible for the origin of the phrase 'served
and servant spaces'. Richards Medical Research Building
Yale university

the Yale Art Gallery extension (1951-53) or
the Trenton Boathouse in New Jersey (1954-
59) or even the Richards Medical Towers in
Philadelphia (1957-62), create astonishing
effects with the change in light, all possible
due to the intelligent use of space and light.
As a result, the user gets an entirely different
experience of working in the building during
different times of a day.

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF
MANAGEMENT, AHMEDABAD IN
INDIA
ESTABLISHED 1961
TYPE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH INSTITUTION
LOCATION AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT INDIA
CAMPUS URBAN, 100 ACRES

HISTORY
IT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1961 AS AN AUTONOMOUS
INSTITUTION BY THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IN
COLLABORATION WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF GUJARAT
AND INDIAN INDUSTRY. DR. VIKRAM SARABHAI, A NOTED
SCIENTIST AND INDUSTRIALIST AND OTHER AHMEDABAD
BASED INDUSTRIALISTS SUCH AS KASTURBHAI LALBHAI
PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE IN THE CREATION OF THE INSTITUTE.
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
THE CAMPUS OF IIMA IS DOMINATED BY THE BAKED BRICK
STYLE FAVOURED BY THE ITS CHIEF ARCHITECT, THE
FAMOUS LOUIS KAHN. ALL THE STRUCTURES ARE
DESIGNED TO BE PART OF A WHOLE AND LOOKS ONE
INTEGRAL WHOLE. OTHER ARCHITECTS WHO
COLLABORATED ON THE CAMPUS INCLUDE THE
RENOWNED B. V. DOSHI AND ANANT RAJE.

BEGINNING WITH THE OVERALL PLAN OF IIM, KAHN’S
THINKING WAS THAT TO UNITE THE REQUIREMENTS:-
•CLASSROOMS
•OFFICES
•LIBRARY
•DINING HALL
•DORMITORIES
•FACULTY RESIDENCES
•WORKERS’ HOUSING
•MARKET
THE PREVIOUSLY FINALISED DESIGN FOR ERDMAN HALL
RECENTLY DONE BY HIM BEFORE IIM INSPIRED HIM TO
BASE HIS PLAN ON DIAGONALS, WITH LONG,
INTERCONNECTED DORMITORIES BLOCK STRETCHING
LIKE FINGERS FROM THE MAIN INSTRUCTIONAL
BUILDING, ENDING AT THE EDGE OF A LAKE.

•ACROSS THE LAKE , HOUSES OF FACULTY WERE ARRANGED IN
CLUSTERS.
•THE DIAGONAL LAYOUT HAD THE PARTICULAR ADVANTAGE OF
RESPONDING WELL TO THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE
BUILDINGS BE ORIENTED TOWARDS THE SOUTH WESTERLY
BREEZES.
•KAHN SUB-DIVIDED THE DORMITORIES INTO 20 BEDROOM
UNIT.
•KAHN USED THE LOCAL BRICK WHICH HE FOUND WAS MORE
EFFECTIVE IN ATTACHING THE SCHOOL DESIGN TO ITS INDIAN
ENVIRONMENT.
•ALTHOUGH HE HAD FREQUENTLY USED BRICK VENEER BEFORE
BUT HE WAS COMMITED TO USED BRICK AS A STRUCTURAL
MATERIAL IN AHMEDABAD AS HE COMPLETELY STUDIED ITS
PROPERTIES AND ADMITTED THAT HIS ARCHED FORMS BORE
WITNESS TO THE SINCERITY WITH BRICK.
•THE BUILDING INCLUDES FREE STANDING LECTURE ROOMS
AND BLOCKS OF FACULTY OFFICE WHICH STOOD ON OPPOSITE
SIDES OF A GREAT CENTRAL COURTYARD, LINKED NOT BY
CORRIDORS BUT BY SHADY WALKWAYS THAT OFFERED MANY
PLACES TO STOP AND TALK.

•ACCORDING TO KAHN THE LIFE OF LEARNING
AND SELF INSTRUCTION WAS ALSO INTEGRAL TO
THE DESIGN OF THE RESIDENTIAL PART OF THE
COMPLEX. FOR THIS HE CLOSLY LINKED THE
DORMITORIES TO THE MAIN BUILDING SO THAT
THE DORMITORY AND THE SCHOOL ARE REALLY
ONE AND ARE ALSO THE PLACES WHERE PEOPLE
CAN MEET.
VIEW SHOWING SHADY WALKWAY

•THIS THINKING GENERATED A WONDERFULY
RICH ARRANGEMENT OF PUBLIC, SEMI PRIVATE
AND PRIVATE SPACES IN AND AROUND THE 18
DORMITORY UNIT THAT GROUP ON TWO SIDE
OF THE MAIN BUILDING.
•THE CORRIDORS , DUE TO ITS GREATER
WIDTH COULD BE TRANSFORMED INTO
CLASSROOMS FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF
STUDENTS.THESE COULD BECOME THE PLACES
WHERE BOY MEETS GIRL OR WHERE STUDENTS
DISCUSSES THE WORK WITH FELLOW
STUDENT. THUS PROVIDING PLACES OFFERING
POSSIBILITIES IN SELF LEARNING.
VIEW SHOWING DORMITORIES

DORMITORY BLOCK
•EACH FOUR STOREY DORMITORY BLOCK
ACCOMODATED 20 PRIVATE ROOMS, ARRANGED ON
THE TWO UPPER FLOORS AROUND TRIANGULAR
LOUNGES OR TEA ROOMS THAT OPENED TO THE
OUTSIDE THROUGH THE GIANT CIRCULAR
PERFORATIONS.
•KITCHEN AND TOILETS WERE CONTAINED WITHIN A
SQUARE TOWER ATTACH TO THE LONG FACE OF THE
OVERALL TRIANGULAR PLAN.
•THE LOWER FLOORS WERE ENTIRELY DEVOTED TO
COMMUNAL SPACE SERVING AS MEETING ROOMS
FOR STUDENT ORGANISATION AND OTHER
ACTIVITIES.
•THE DORMITORIES HAD A NETWORK OF SMALL
COURTYARD INTERCONNECTED BY PARTIALLY
ENCLOSED GROUND FLOOR.

EXTERIOR VIEW OF DORMITORIES
VIEW OF DORMITORIES SHOWING COURTYARD

•THE 53 HOUSES WERE ARTICULATED BY KAHN’S
COMPOSITE ORDER i.e. THE SYSTEM OF SHALLOW BRICK
ARCHES AND CONCRETE TIE BEAMS THAT HE INVENTED
FOR AHMEDABAD.
•THE HOUSES POSSESED THE VARIETY OF WONDERFUL
AMENTIES INCLUDING ENCLOSED UPPER FLOOR TERRACES
AND A STAGGERED SITTING SCHEME THAT SEGREGATED
EACH HOUSE FROM ITS NEIGHBOURS.
DUE TO SHORTAGE OF FUNDS AND
SLOWNESS IN WORK, RESPONSIBILITY WAS INCREASINGLY
SHIFTED TO B.V. DOSHI AND ANANT RAJE, A YOUNGER
ARCHITECT WHO WORKED ON THE PROJECT FOR A TIME
IN KAHN’S PHILADELPHIA OFFICE. ON KAHN’S DEATH, RAJE
DESIGNED THE DINING HALL, EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
CENTRE AND MARRIED STUDENTS HOUSING, WHICH HAD
BEEN LATER ADDITIONS TO THE PROGRAM.

VIEW OF FACULTY HOUSING
VIEW OF COURTYARD

VIEW OF STAIRCASE

SALK INSTITUTE

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is an
independent, non-profit, scientific research institute
located in La Jolla, California. It was founded in 1960
by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine.
The Salk institute is composed of 2 groups of buildings
sited on the edge of a magnificent cliff, with the Pacific
Ocean falling behind in the horizon
The institute is housed in a complex designed by the firm
of Louis Kahn.
Michael Duff of the Kahn firm was the supervising
architect and a major design influence on the structure that
consists of two symmetric buildings with a stream of water
flowing in the middle of a courtyard that separates the two.
The buildings themselves have been designed to promote
collaboration, and thus there are no walls separating
laboratories on any floor.

There is one floor in the basement, and two
above it on both sides.
The lighting fixtures have been designed to easily
slide along rails on the roof, in tune with the
collaborative and open philosophy of the Salk
Institute's science.
According to A. Perez, the concrete was made
with volcanic ash relying on the basis of ancient
Roman concrete making techniques, and as a
result gives off a warm, pinkish glow.
The 2 buildings are mirrored around an open
plaza which forms a strong linear axis with the
Pacific Ocean on one end and the entrance on the
other, thus highlighting and framing the landscape
rather than imposing itself on it.

THE STRUCTURE THAT
CONSISTS OF TWO
SYMMETRIC BUILDINGS
WITH A STREAM OF WATER
FLOWING IN THE MIDDLE OF
A COURTYARD THAT
SEPARATES THE TWO.

 A diagonal wall allows each of the thirty-six
scientists using the studies to have a view of
the Pacific, and every study is fitted with a
combination of operable sliding and fixed
glass panels in teak wood frames.
Originally the design also included living
quarters and a conference building, but they
were never actually built.

In the courtyard is a citrus grove
containing several orderly rows of lime
trees.
The original grove contained orange and
kumquat trees which were then replaced
with lime trees in the 1995 grove
refurbishment.

The plaza is stark (unpleasant or sharply cleared
impossible to avoid), finished in travertine marble,
without anything in it except a single small linear
channel of water running down the centre.
Yet, it is complete, the simplicity being
highlighted by the magnificent backdrop of the sky
and the ocean with the seagulls fluttering in the
distance.

The buildings are 6 floors in height with 3 levels housing
the laboratories while the other 3 houses the services and
utilities.
Each laboratory block has five study towers, with each
tower containing four offices, except for those near the
entrance to the court, which only contain two.
Kahn used concrete, teak, lead glass and steel as his
material palette.
Made in exposed concrete, the walls are unfinished
showing clearly the shuttering marks and also the tie rod
holes.
The imperfections formed in the concrete surface during
casting were left as such and were not covered up and
finished, maintaining the integrity of the material.

Similarly, the teak & steel were also left unfinished to
weather naturally over time.
The scientists tell that not only is the building
beautiful, but it is functional as well.
It was one of the first buildings which he was really
satisfied with, a place which was really spiritual.

Alfred Newton Richard’s research centre..

Alfred Newton Richard’s
research centre..
The Richards Medical Research
Laboratories, located on the campus of the University
of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.,
were designed by architect Louis Kahn.
It is a research institute for biomedical sciences.
It has Greek cross planning.
It is made in two segments.
It has clustared planning.

Each laboratory tower has eight floors, each of which is a
45 foot (13.5 m) square that is entirely free of stairs,
elevators and internal support columns.
 Each tower is supported by eight external columns that
are attached to the four edges of each floor at "third-point"
locations, the two points on each side that divide it into
three equal parts.
That placement resulted in four column-free
cantilevered corners on each floor, which Kahn filled with
windows.
The support structure of these towers consists of pre-
stressed concrete elements that were fabricated off-site
and assembled on-site with a crane.

Attached to the sides of the laboratory towers are large
vertical shafts, some of which hold exhaust ducts and
some of which hold stairwells.
Attached to its wall farthest from the three laboratory
towers are four large air intake shafts, each bringing air
to one of four conditioning units on the tower's roof from
a "nostril" near the ground, far away from the emissions
at the tops of the exhaust shafts.
These shafts, the most striking aspect of the building's
exterior, are made from cast-in-place concrete and clad
with brick.
In contrast to the three laboratory towers, which have
prominent windows and intricate structures that were
assembled from prefabricated elements, the central
tower of the Richards building, the one devoted to
service functions, has few windows and a structure that
is a single unit of cast-in-place concrete.

Three of those conditioning units provide fresh
air for the three laboratory towers and the fourth
serves the central service tower itself.
The Goddard building has the same basic design
as Richards.
Its two laboratory towers and service tower (for
stairs, elevators, etc.) are connected in a straight
line to the westernmost tower of the Richards
building

A research library is located in Goddard's upper floors
with reading carrels that cantilever from the building's
face.
The served spaces are the laboratories themselves.
The servant spaces are the independently structured
shafts for ventilation and stairways that are attached to
the outside of the laboratory towers and also the two
service towers , which house elevators, animal quarters,
mechanical systems, and other auxiliary areas.
Kahn spoke critically of laboratories that were
designed so that numbers on doors along a corridor are
the only distinction between the scientists' main work
areas and the areas for stairs, animal quarters and other
services.

By placing service areas in separate structures,
Kahn not only honored the services by giving them
their own architectural presence but also enhanced
the interior of the laboratory towers by removing
obstructions from within.

Structure:
In contrast to buildings in the style
of International Modernism, which typically had
structures of relatively light-weight steel
frames that were often hidden behind glass
walls, the laboratory towers have concrete
structures that are clearly visible and openly
depicted as bearing weight.
The structure was engineered by August
Komendant, a pioneer in the use of pre-stressed
concrete.

47
Entry porch ceiling
showing the building's
support structure,
which is composed of
prefabricated concrete
elements that were
assembled like
children's blocks.

The structure of the Richards building is composed of
1019 pre-stressed
concrete columns, beams, trusses and related items
that were trucked in from a factory, assembled with a
crane like children's blocks, and locked into place
with post-tensioning cables running in all three
dimensions, something like an old-style toy that is
floppy until its parts are pulled together tightly with a
string.
In line with his belief that structure should be made
visible, Kahn exposed these structural parts on the
building's exterior and in the laboratory ceilings.
For the post-tensioning to be effective, the
prefabricated concrete parts had to be precisely
dimensioned and perfectly formed.

Louis i kahn

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