Louis Kahn's Approaches to Architectural Form and Materiality - Essay Example

Louis Kahns Approaches to Architectural Form and Materiality Introduction Louis Kahn is among the leading figures in thefield of architecture with his works being among the leading architectural masterpieces across the globe. Louis Kahn is an American architect born in 1901 and died in 1974 after 73 years of revolutionary architectural mind. Louis was so good at his work that history considers him as among the great master builders of the twentieth century. Louis managed to create buildings exuding archaic beauty, as well as a powerful universal symbolism by applying choreographic mastery of light and complex spatial compositions. These skills enabled him to create some of the best works of architectural arts, whereby some of his most important works include the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (1966-72), the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California (1959-65), as well as the National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh (1962-83). As such, the works of Louis Kahn exemplified the power of architecture (Kahn and Twombly, 67). Kahns Approaches to Architectural Form and Materiality Louis Kahn is arguably one of the few architects from the 20th century who came to terms effectively with the challenge of defining an authentic, modern monumentality. He made several designs for sacred places for different religions, among them the mosques for Muslims, Churches for Christians, and Synagogues for the Jews. In his designs, Louis was particular to incorporate a combination of the ideas of assembly, as well as with the sense of the transcendent. One of the key features that Louis used to make his designs exemplary and unique was playing about with light, which he applied as an effective suggestion form an invisible order. As such, the architect managed to evoke the diverse origins of architecture and institutions by applying symbolic geometrics. Consequently, some of his best creations of architecture interpreted the contradictions for representation in a post-colonial state, as well as managing to fuse together successfully the Western and Eastern cultures. The different works or architectural art done by Louis Kahn represents several echoes of centralized types of diverse cultures and periods, which include Mogul Tombs, the Pantheon in Rome, the Buddhist Mandalas and Stupas, the medieval fortress of Castel del Monte, and the Bengali mosques of the Sultanate period. However, the architect managed to fuse and transform these varied diverse inspirations into a single active configuration of voids transverse by axes and laid out in a clear hierarchy. Another important style evident in the architect’s works as recognized by observers and critics to be one of his key interests was the geometrics of nature. Kahn had an undying interest in the geometrics of nature that came in different forms, including snowflakes and crystals. The most outstanding piece of art is the spatial conception, which exudes modernism, as well as representing a reversal of the dense masonry masses. This is a major celebration of the voids filled with light (Brownlee and De Long, 23). The Influence of Classical Thinking on Contemporary Architecture The best way to map the influence of classical thinking on contemporary architecture centers on the manner and style through which the architect involved displays the influence in his or her works, such as what was evident in the works of Louis Kahn. For instance, morphology results from configuration analysis, as well as the outer structure of the object, which should be in direct relation to the phenomena that originates the object. As such, a good analysis covers four basic aspects, which include the quantitative aspect, the qualitative aspect, the functional organization, as well as the figurative aspect. Consequently, Louis Kahn stands out as one of the best architects from the 3rd generation of the modernist movement. Therefore, it is evident that this third generation breed of architects assumed different attitudes, as well as highlighted their intentions to incorporate history, associate with vernacular architecture, and adjusting to the reality of the users. As such, they ended up rejecting the mannerism and formalism brought about by international style. It was during this same period within which Louis Kahn initiated his professional practice as an architect operating under the Modernist Movement. However, Louis Kahn architectural direction evolved towards a different path from the 1950’s onwards, which was a total different scale in relation to the rupture propositions adopted regarding the form and planning of the modern city. Louis Kahn argues that the process of developing an architectonic project has two major divisions divided by two stages. These two distinctive stages alternate simultaneously through the entire process of architectural development. As such, the two main stages considered in each case include the material stage and the conceptual stages. The process of developing an architectural project initiates from the producing a conceptual image setting the basic principle around the essence of the project. Therefore, all the generated elements during the project are subordinate to the conceptual image and process (Cruz, 45). Impact of Louis Kahn’s Thinking and Ideas on the 1950s Architecture As one of the preeminent architects of the twentieth century, Louis Kahn was instrumental in changing the 1950s architectural designs through his acute thinking and ideas. As such, Kahn is quite famous in the architectural field form his geometric, and monumental buildings. From as early as his birth, Louis Kahn lived and practiced architecture, and later joined the University of Pennsylvania to study architecture to become of one the leading architectural minds of modern times. Louis Kahn adopted a new way of creating his architectural masterpieces through development of a signature style of building. In fact, Louis Kahn characterized his building styles poetically through a number of his lectures as a hinging on light and monumentality. This new style of architectural designed totally transformed the approach that different architects adopted towards their designs on buildings since that period of the century. Furthermore, a significant number of other architects also copied the style adopted by Louis Kahn of monumentality and light in their own architectural designs. The concept of light and monumentality in creating architectural works of art enabled Louis Kahn to gain international reputation as a guru of architecture. As such, it was apparent that Louis Kahn sought out an architectural approach rooted historically to the current modern architecture. He even adopted a new method of organizing his buildings that had well known spaces of the “servant” (subsidiary) and the “served” (main). His proficient architectural skills and expertise are equally evident in the rich story underlying his interior spaces, such as the human scale, the contemplative scale, as well as the connective scale (Tyng, 96). An analysis of one of the best works of Louis Kahn draws from his 1971 drawing of an “Architecture Comes from the Making of a Room”. This piece of architectural work presents a wide array of distillation of several decades that Louis Kahn applied on thinking over the room, as well as the habitants of the room. The drawing equally represents the different principles that guided the architectural works designed and developed by Louis Kahn. As such, the architect lived by these principles, and aspired to achieve these principles. Consequently, the above-mentioned drawing acts as a manifesto of the architectural designs that he usually designed. From this analysis, Louis Kahn argued that the creation of architectural works begins from designing of a room, as put in his own words, “The room is the beginning of architecture.” This philosophy changed the approach that different architects had towards the development and design of different works of architecture, as designing a single room in a given building would eventually lead to the completion of the entire building in a unique and classic manner. However, starting to design from the outside of the building would make the architectural process turn out to be consequential in the sense that the rooms within the building may fail to encompass or reflect the main theme of the architect, especially the theme that the architect had for the entire building. This is one of the ways that Louis Kahns thinking and skills transformed the architectural processes and design within the period of 1950s (Solomon, 47). Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that Louis Kahn played an imperative role in shaping the approach to modern day architecture, as he incorporated both historical developments, as well as particular skills in the architectural process. One key strategy on architecture evident in his works that transformed the entire working and architectural process of the twentieth century was the theme of light and monumentality. This changed the entire approach that the architects had towards the design of buildings. Furthermore, his thinking that the development of any works of architecture begins from the design of a single room in the building was also instrumental in shaping the direction of architectural designs from the 1950s onwards. Works Cited Cruz, Paulo. Structures and Architecture: New Concepts, Applications and Challenges. Boston: CRC Press, 2013. Print. Brownlee, Daniel and De Long, Denver. Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture. Michigan: Universe Pub., 1997. Print. Kahn, Louis and Twombly Robert. Louis Kahn: Essential Texts. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. Print. Tyng, Alexandra. Beginnings: Louis I. Kahns Philosophy of Architecture. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 1984. Print. Solomon, Susan. Louis I. Kahns Jewish Architecture: Mikveh Israel and the Midcentury American Synagogue. Washington, DC: UPNE, 2009. Print. Read More