Lecture 01: Louis Kahn and the Exeter Library

[Image from http://www.thirdseventh.com]

Last weeks lecture hit on the subject of architectural constraints, uncovered in the form of budget, zoning, structure and material identity. Louis Kahn, who at the peak of his career was turning out blueprints faster than any other firm on the globe, held on to a monumental and monolithic construction technique, despite rigorous training in the Beaux Arts fashion. His design aesthetic with regards to form certainly tilted towards his education, but his materiality remained honest to an antiquated approach.

“To express is to drive.
And when you want to give something presence,
you have to consult nature.
And there is where Design comes in.

And if you think of Brick, for instance,
and you say to Brick,
"What do you want Brick?"
And Brick says to you
"I like an Arch."
And if you say to Brick
"Look, arches are expensive,
and I can use a concrete lentil over you.
What do you think of that?"
"Brick?"
Brick says:
"... I like an Arch"” - Kahn

Exeter Library is a perfect example. The skin, load-bearing brick (although truthfully not doing any additional work aside from supporting itself), remains honest to a bricks capability and even personified desire. However, in dealing with budget constraints, Kahn is forced to abandon the planned vaulting and begins to rely on concrete for much of the building's interior surfacing and internal structural elements. In sticking to the Kahn method, his own office made sure to detail the joinery and finishing condition of the concrete as to imply how it was formed and where the stresses/loads are being delivered. This special attention paid off. As Karl Daubmann, professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, quotes: "The level of detail in this building nearly brought me to tears". And so it should.

A wonderful film can be seen at this here.