How did Kahn abstract the techniques used by Raffaele Stern in his Braccia Nuovo sculpture gallery, to create the Kimbell art museum?

“Utzon’s Sydney opera house was evidence of the way in which a 20th century architect could take inspirations from one tradition (the ruins of ancient Mexico) and transform them to deal with a totally different setting and context” (Curtis 2010) As the Braccia Nuovo sculpture gallery, Rome, 1822, by Raffaele Stern, was the inspirational idea for which Louis Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 1967 – 1972, was to be based around. Kahn did not simply replicate the ancient techniques, used by Stern, but he made a conscious decision to improve and abstract these techniques through modern innovation.

Richard Fargo Brown, the director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, was selected to head the proposed institution and in 1967 he commissioned Louis Kahn to design the museum. The building was not meant to be more than 13 metres high and since there were no prominent views surrounding the building, Kahn had to orientate the building towards the large open grass area. Curtis informs us that designing this building “led him to clarify a simple set of “type forms” based on primary geometries- the square, the circle, the triangle, etc.-which were capable of a vast variety of interrelationships over certain kernel patterns of form and meaning.”

Like in the Braccia Nuovo, Kahn wanted to get all the natural light in the building to come in through openings from above. “Daylight was spilled through the crack onto upturned stainless steel reflectors, and then dispersed as a silvery glow over the polished concrete undersides of the naked roof structure.” (Curtis 2010) To prevent the harsh Texan sun from penetrating the spaces and flood the areas with too much light, he detailed a new way of helping to diffuse light in the spaces. Unlike the Nuovo the Kimbell’s spaces have a continuous, even penetration of light.

“It is a creating of spaces that evoke a feeling of use. Spaces which form themselves into a harmony good for the use to which the building is to be put” (Curtis 2010) It is easy to see this ideology portrayed in the Kimbell art museum because he uses a repetition of barrel vaults, which are free from columns. This therefore gives a complete openness to the plan so that one can easily walk between one gallery and the next. This openness causes a freeform interconnectivity between any of the spaces which gives a spirit and life to the building.

The Braccia Nuovo expresses the load bearing elements of the columns and arches which support the walls. The barrel vaults are supported by 104 foot post tensioned concrete beams which completely supported its own weight of the cycloid vault. As Kahn informs us “I put the glass between the structure members and the members which are not of structure because the joint is the beginning of ornament. And that must be distinguished from decoration which is simply applied. Ornament is the adoration of the joint.” He is really trying to express the fact that the gable ends of all the vaults are non load bearing structures and these 4 inch panels of glass are there for ornamentation just like the 5 classical orders of columns (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite).

“There can be no doubting the sense of antiquity or of the archaic in certain of Kahn’s realisations, but this was achieved by modern means, in which space, structure, materials and light were endowed with a resonant abstraction.” (Curtis 2010) This helps to justify the point that Kahn did not simply imitate classical styles, as many architects have done, but he did take the key essence of their principals and abstracted them through modern technology. He emphasised the clutter-free structure of the building and in doing so, he created a free, beautiful building.

Komendant, August E., 18 years with architect Louis I. Kahn, United states of America, 1975

Curtis, Willian J. R., Modern Architecture since 1900, London, 2010

Symbolism and Utzon's Sydney opera house

Symbolism is the greatest tool that an architect has at his disposal to influences the minds and souls of the public. Whether it is abstract or literal, it will always cause an emotive response from the users either consciously or subconsciously.

This was Jørn Utzon’s main goal when in December 1955 there was a world-wide competition for architects to design a new opera house in Sydney. On January 29th 1957, out of 233 entries, Utzon was announced as the winner of the competition even though his design was originally cast aside by the panel of judges. His was the only project which had both the concert halls orientated towards the harbour, this orientation was a key factor in his design and can be seen throughout the whole building. Utzon explains this to us “As in large cathedrals the Opera House is functional in the sense that people have a beautiful experience entering and walking up the stairs and entering the auditoria, while they are all the time oriented in the beautiful harbour and have the views of the spectacular Sydney Harbour setting.”

Utzon used a lot of symbolism in his design of the opera house, the whole design itself is supposed to be a symbolic representation of the earth. “Utzon’s use of the terrace is moreover inspired by Chinese architectural symbolism in which the earth is square and the sky is round. The rectangular base and spherical geometry of the opera house roof vaults offers a parallel.”(Drew 1995). The symbolism that Utzon expresses throughout many of the features of the building is what the essence of the design is all about. It was not created as an after-thought to make the building aesthetically pleasing but it is this symbolic power and presence that makes the Sydney opera house iconic.

The opera house is raised on a large 12 metre high concrete substructure which acts as a plinth for which the superstructure can be placed onto. But also this plinth resembles a solid base on which the ever changing performances above can be grounded. This corresponds with the Chinese symbolic representation of the earth.

“The platform theme was on Utzon’s mind anyway, as is clear from his housing designs, but in a monumental context it may have been specifically inspired by the artificial hills with ceremonial steps of Monte Alban, the ancient Mexican site which the Architect had sketched during his travels.” (Curtis 2010) The symbolic idea of creating ceremonial steps which rise out of the ground is a well thought out architectural device. It creates an aura around the experience that one is about to take when walking up the steps to see a performance. It adds a grandeur to the occasion that would not be there had the stairs not been so emphasised.

One historian wrote of the concept that it “... concentrates the unconscious meanings of its urban context in the same way as Notre-Dame, situated on the Ile de la Cite, does for Paris. It manifests the spirit of the city...” (Curtis 2010) This reiterates the point of symbolism being the most powerful tool that an architect has at his disposal. The abstract symbolism of the opera house in the form of the sails of a boat, which is completely unobstructed by any view and is almost floating in the middle of Sydney harbour, is the iconic symbol for not only Sydney but the whole of Australia.

Curtis, Willian J. R., Modern Architecture since 1900, London, 2010

Drew, Phillip., Sydney opera house Jørn Utzon- Architecture in detail, London, 1995

Utzon, Jørn., Sydney opera house Utzon design principles, 2002

Greatest influenece over modern architecture - Mies Van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house,Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haute,Aalto’s Säynätsalo Town Hall?

When talking about modernism, form is a secondary thought when designing a building because functionality is key. Aesthetic appeal is not important in the eyes of a “pure” modernist architect because functionality is the way of the future. Ornate architecture is the thing of the past because obviously the past didn’t work, otherwise we wouldn’t have had the great war. Stirling explains to us the idea of modernism “In the U.S.A., functionalism now means the adaptation to building of industrial processes and products, but in Europe it remains the essentially humanist method of designing to a specific use.” Out of the three buildings: Mies Van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house; Le Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haute; Alvar Aalto’s Säynätsalo Town Hall, I think that Alvar Aalto’s building has the greatest influence over modern architecture.

“The chapel by Le Corbusier may possibly be the most plastic building ever erected in the name of modern architecture.” Stirling’s opinion of the Notre Dame du Haute is quite just because it is not modern as its form does not follow the function as is seen in most of Le Corbusier’s modern architecture. It is too ornate to be a modernistic building, he generated the form of the roof from the shell of a crab. He is being hypocritical and going against all his past strict guidelines to what a building should be.

Stirling criticises Corbusier’s placement of windows as he thinks they were not well thought out and were erratic. “The scattered openings on the chapel walls may recall de Stijl but a similar expression is also commonplace in the farm buildings of Provence” Whereas Van der Rohe’s building uses modern techniques, like those that should be used in modernism, to create a complete glass facade to emphasise the beautiful views of the whole site. Aalto’s town hall is well thought out though, it has specifically placed openings in the wall to emphasise views and to allow light to enter the building.

The Farnsworth house was a pursuit of an ideal, a pursuit of a minimalistic and functional building. It does this well in the manner that Mies Van der Rohe has successfully expressed his structural columns that support the two planar elements, the floor and roof, just as he did in the Barcelona pavilion. He uses modern techniques, in his joint detailing of the steel columns and beams, of welding the precast beams and welding them down to give them a flush finish. It is ambiguous as to what is load bearing and a viewer of the building may be tricked into thinking that the slender glass elements were supporting the roof. This is unlike the Notre Dame du Haute where one is deceived into thinking that the walls are huge load bearing masonry but in fact the main structure consists of columns which can be seen in the gap between the wall and roof. This was not the only time in the building that Le Corbusier favoured an ornate choice over a functional design, as Stirling reinforces. “These handrails, which appear to be cut-offs from an extruded section of rolled steel joist, are in fact specially cast and the top flange is set at an acute angle to the web. The movable louvre is a logical development in resisting intense sunlight and it is surprising to find them above two of the entrances to the chapel; howewer, a closer inspection reveals that they are 4-inch static concrete fins set at arbitrary angles, suggesting movability.”

The reason that the Farnsworth house cannot be a great influence over modern architecture is because even though it is well thought out and completely modern for its era, it is really not functional. It is built on a flood plain and every year the house is flooded and is not suitable to live in. In contrast Säynätsalo is a very functional building, it is easily segregated into three distinct areas and the different heights of the buildings easily define the different spaces. The functionality of the building is split but it effectively works together to create a community environment. It has the very civic entrance from the north-east but it has a more naturalistic entrance from the south-west. This helps to portray the two sides of the building, the well structured civic part and the more free community areas. “Säynätsalo was a casual building with just a hint of ritual; it was civic without being monumental, and lived between urban and rural worlds.” (Curtis 2010)




Curtis, Willian J. R., Modern Architecture since 1900, London, 2010

Stirling, James, RONCHAMP. Le Corbusier's Chapel and the crisis of rationalism, Architectural Review, 1956

3D Shelter

This is a 3D visualisation of what my shelter would look like. It was drawn on 3D cad then it was redered on 3D Max.

Final Shelter sheets

Shelter design

Shelter Design

This was our official first design project of second year. After having a great relaxing summer, we had to crack back to work. It was the first experience of a live project that we have ever had. The year was split into three and we were all assigned a site. The sites were the australasian area at the botanical gardens, american area at the botanical gardens and my site which was on dundee campus behind the tennis courts and close to the union.

The project was a completely timber design structure to provide shelter for the public. The whole year were given to opportunity to show there proposals, of which one for each site would be chosen. The shelter would then be built and funded by us, through fundraising and sponsership.

I realised that for my site the best type of shelter to design would be one where someone could wait for their tennis match, spectate the tennis and have a lot of natural light. Urban art is a big problem in a city, no matter how controlling a society thinks they can be. It is a way for a person to express themselves and is a part of our modern society. There is no way of escaping it, so we need to embrace it. I thought a lot about this while designing my shelter because I noticed that there was a lot of graffiti around the campus and city. For my design I knew that it was going to be graffitied no matter what, so I wanted to encourage them to graffiti my shelter. Sort of given them a blank canvas if you will.

The design was ment to be easy to build and express the structure throughout. I made the facade out of plywood and encorported a ladder system that would help the artist to tag the roof. The design has a lot of light coming through the north light opening and also through the front opening. It is elevated off the ground to express the structure. The sheets are on the next post.