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IZCARPENTER CENTER FOR VISUAL ARTS

LE CORBUSIERYALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY

LOUIS I. KAHN

The Carpenter Center For Visual Arts is located in Harvard yard, where the buildings of Harvard University are situated around an orthogonal grid with courtyards and enclosure created by railings and walls. The building is bisected by an S-shaped ramp at a third floor entry level. The entry sequence via this ramp allows a complete orientation to ones surroundings climaxing in a framed view overlooking the Harvard Campus. Le Corbusier utilizes a pinwheel typology as the two halves meet at a vertical core. The ramp and curved studios outside of the main square are held up on pilotis, the main structural system of the building. The program consists of studio and exhibition spaces, which are enclosed in a glazing allowing both a separation of space and a display of building program.

The façade of the rectilinear forms consists of Brise-soleil, which are vertical concrete fins to guard against direct sun rays. The curved studios outside of the square are encased in ondulatories, “vertical struts of reinforced concrete columns.

Constructed between 1951 and 1953, the Yale University Art Gallery is consid-ered to be Louis Kahn’s first significant commission. Although it was an addition to the existing 1928 gallery by Egderton Swartwout, Kahn’s creation would actually be larger and contain galleries, architecture studios, and administrative offices.

To contrast the detailed carvings in the façade of the existing neo-gothic gallery, Kahn took a brutalist approach to exterior of his addition. He “abandoned windows on the Chapel Street side, thereby shielding the interior from both traffic noise and the damaging south light; the unembellished brick plane was interrupted only by four horizontal strips of stone marking the floors within.”– Beyond Time and Style

Conversely, the north and west walls were “clad entirely in glass, the steal mul-lions making a vigorously Modernist composition that provided views into the exhibition areas from a sculpture garden and compensated for the anonymous street façade.” – Beyond Time and Style

Kahn’s innovation lies in his utilization of a concrete space frame in order to create the large unobstructed spans required for effective gallery spaces

These educational buildings by both Kahn and Le Corbusier are triumphs of postmodern architecture for their expression of pure geometric form, unique reactions to sunlight, and innovative uses of concrete both structurally and formally. The buildings differ in entry, as Le Corbusier focuses on a linear ramped path leading up to the building whereas Khan concentrates more on a triangular circulation within the building. In finding a solution for the requirement of large gallery spaces, Kahn utilizes a new concrete tetrahedral technology whereas Le Corbusier relies on pilotis as a structural system, one of his five points of Architecture.

CChhaapppeelll SSStt

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conformity to grid

multiple stair entriesLELA

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IZCONTEXT + ENTRYCONTEXT + ENTRYCARPENTER CENTER FOR VISUAL ARTS

LE CORBUSIERYALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY

LOUIS I. KAHN

ESTABLISHED

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D

ENTRY

contradiction of grid

linear ramped entry

In order to create the large unobstructed spans required for effective gallery spaces, Kahn needed to devise a creative structural solution. He realized such an effective method in Buckminster Fuller’s tetrahedron-octahedron system. “As he worked with the design he found that triangular hollows of the structural slab could provide a continuous space for utilities while meeting the requirements for unsupported spans. A model of Kahn’s concept was described by structural consultant Henry A Pfisterer as a ‘multiplanar truss system (space-frame) of equilateral triangles with the entire top surface filled in to provide the floor and with alternate triangles in each of the three dimensions also made solid.’” – In the Realm of Architecture“With its dark voids containing the mechanical and lighting systems, the concrete tetrahedral ceiling seems to soften the spaces, making it a very comfortable place.” – A+U

Kahn settled on a cylindrical enclosure for his “stunning” triangular stair which was itself a work of sculpture. This unifying element penetrated the full height of his four-story building and pinned the floors together. (Beyond Time and Style)

He opted to use custom 4”x6” blocks for the gallery walls as opposed to standard 8”x16” CMU’s. This served to break down the scale of the wall in comparison to the artwork which would hang from it.

Le Corbusier uses concrete pilotis on an orthagonal grid to allow for open floor plan + free facade.

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IZINNOVATIONCARPENTER CENTER FOR VISUAL ARTS

LE CORBUSIERYALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY

LOUIS I. KAHN

STRUCTURE

LIGHT

SCALE

The entry sequence via this ramp allows a complete orientation to ones surroundings climaxing in a framed view overlooking the Harvard Campus.

Fins block out direct light and allow for a glowing ambient effect at edge of

facade.

3 FORMS

path

1

2

3

Kahn settled on a cylindrical enclosure for his “stunning” triangular stair which was itself a work of sculpture. This unifying element penetrated the full height of his four-story building and pinned the floors together.

(Beyond Time and Style)

“the unembellished brick plane was interrupted only by four horizontal strips of stone marking the floors within.”– Beyond

Time and Style

Conversely, the north and west walls were “clad entirely in glass

path

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IZFORMCARPENTER CENTER FOR VISUAL ARTS

LE CORBUSIERYALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY

LOUIS I. KAHN

GEOMETRY

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ORGANIZATI

ON

Pans-de-verre

“Using his experience in planning economical and efficient public housing, he grouped the service

area and stairway as a core in the center of the main body of the building.” – In the Realm of Architecture

The bathrooms, stairs, and elevator created a “discrete rectangular zone at the core of the build-ing. This was a commonsense move, liberating the

maximum amount of space for exhibitions and classrooms, but it had a compelling geometrical logic that recalled the orderly Beaux-Arts plans

Kahn had studied at Penn.” – Beyond Time and Style

ondulatories

circulation core presed to ends for sense of orientation

Works Cited Brownlee, David Bruce., and Long David Gilson De. Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1991. Print.

Koyama, Hisao. "Louis I. Kahn: Conception and Meaning." Architecture and Urbanism (1983). Print. "Le Corbusier at Work: The Genesis of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts." Alibris. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. <http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=8324916>.

Wiseman, Carter. Louis I. Kahn: Beyond Time and Style: A Life in Architecture. New York [u.a.: Norton, 2007. Print.