Inside a Salk Institute's study

The buildings have six stories, with the first three of them containing laboratories and the last three with utilities. These spaces are connected to protruding towers that contain spaces for individual studies linked with bridges. Due to zoning codes, the first two stories had to be underground. In order for these spaces to receive ample sunlight, Kahn designed a series of light wells on both sides of each building that were 40 feet long and 25 feet wide. The laboratories above ground are also well-lit spaces with large glass panes for their exterior walls.

Louis Kahn articulated three essential concepts: 1. Separation of the perimeter walls as to the major structure with a view of exposing them to a more dramatic interplay between light and shadow thus making them look like some "enveloping ruins"; 2. Sever, serial, and hierarchical articulation of the volumetric shapes identified in their own geometry and structure.; 3. Clear-cut functional distinction between "serving" and "served" spaces, displaying in horizontal and vertical section simultaneously.

The materials used included wood, concrete, marble, water, steel, and glass, and they all contributed to the Brutalist notions and simplistic plan. Khan believed that concrete was the stone of the modern man, and therefore it was to be left with exposed joints and formwork markings.The concrete was poured using a technique studied in Roman architecture. Once the concrete was set, he allowed no further finishing touches in order to attain a warm glow in the concrete.

Kahn also integrated mechanical and electrical services into this architecture, which gave laboratories a new concept. These technologies were hidden in the design to continue Kahn's search for order in the plan. Ceiling and column ideas were also combined to separate the air that you breathe from the air that you throw away. Interlocking volumes are present throughout the structure, all the way down to the details on the furniture.

The Salk Institute’s open environment teeming with empty space is symbolic of an open environment for creation, the symmetry stands for scientific precision, and submerging crevasses allow warm, natural light to enter the buildings like the intellectual light that leads to discovery. The contrast between balance and dynamic space manifests a pluralistic invitation for scientific study in structures developed to accommodate their respective functions as parts of a research facility.

Although modern in appearance, it is essentially an isolated compound for individual and collaborative study not unlike monasteries as sanctuaries for religious discovery, which directly influenced Louis Kahn in his design. The Salk Institute is his masterpiece reinterpretation of the monastic “intellectual retreat” in our day and age.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1402