louis, isadore kahn

Louis Isadore Kahn (1901-1974), U.S. architect, educator, and philosopher, is one of theforemost twentieth-century architects. Louis I. Kahn evolved an original theoretical and formallanguage that revitalized modern architecture. His best known works, located in the UnitedIndia, and Bangladesh, were produced in the last two decades of his life. They reveal anintegration of struc ture, a reverence for materials and light, a devotion to archetypal geometry,and a profound concern for humanistic values. He is considered one of the most importantAmerican building designers of the twentieth century.

Louis Kahn also helped to define modern architecture. Architecture is the art and science ofdesign ing and building structures such as houses, museums, and office buildings. Kahn’s architecture has been several defining qualities. Kahn’s was very interested in the look and feel of the materials he used. He used brick and concrete in new and special ways. Kahn alsopaid careful attention to the use of sunlight. He liked natural light to enter his buildings throughinteresting kinds of windows and openings. Kahn’s work can also be identified by his creative use of geometric shapes like squares, circles and triangles.

Most of Kahn life is in Philadelphia. Kahn’s first important project was the Yale Art Gallery inNew Haven, Connecticut in the early 1950’s. The outside of the building is very simple. Thesurface is made of brick of masonry and limestone. However, inside of the gallery shows Kahn’s great artistic sense. He created a triangle-shaped walkway of steps that sits inside arounded concrete shell. This building was very popular. It’s represented an important step inKahn’s professional life. Kahn mostly created public buildings such as museums and libraries. However, he also designed a few houses.  

His most famous home is the Fisher house nearPhiladelphia. It is made of several box- shaped buildings. The house is made of glass, woodand stone. Many windows provide a view of the nearby trees.

 

Louis Kahn also designed buildings in other countries, including India and Bangladesh. His largest project was a series of buildings that would become the government centre of Dhaka, Bangladesh. This structure includes the parliament, meeting rooms, offices, eating places and even a religious centre. This series of buildings looks like an ancient home for kings. Huge rounded and box-like buildings have windows in the shape of circles and triangles. The structure is surrounded by water. From a distance, it appears to float on a lake. Khan spent the last twelve years of his life on this project. It was completed in 1983, nine years after his death. 
 

All of Kahn’s buildings share a common solidity and heaviness. They are very different from the works of other famous architects of the period. These architects preferred light and airy buildings. Their weightless-looking structures were mostly made of glass and metal. Kahn used stone and concrete to make monumental buildings. Many of his structures look more ancient than modern. I will make a focus on this building. 
 

Louis Kahn was an artist who created beautiful works. However, he was not a very good-businessman. He would change his designs many times. This would make each project take a great deal of time and cost more money. The majority of the projects he designed were never built. Furthermore, he did not like to compromise his design ideas to satisfy a buyer’s wishes.For this reason and others, Kahn did not make many buildings. His design company did not always have many jobs or much money. In fact, when Kahn died, he was in great debt. This is unusual, since he was considered one of the most important architects in the world. especially

The Architect’s Design Philosophy and How Louis Isadore Kahn had Influenced Others.
Aspects of Kahn’s design that are generally valid are often pragmatically described as a “reformulation of spatial understanding”, and also imprecisely defined as “geometrical structural ism” or one-side as a “controlled dramatically of light”. However, then poetic criteria like the archaistion of architectural bodies or integration of a design into an all-embracing order remain imponder able interpretations, not presented in any further detail. The rational approach that can be tested against existing evidence and tries to avoid a speculative statement to the largest possible extent/ The analytical rationality of this approach can be unambiguously related to the Virtuvian concept of eustasy (the graceful, the beautiful, usually today Gestaltung, artistic creation, structure, design ).

malaya pavillion

Design idea: The prefect form

Location: inside University of Malaya

Client: University of Malaya

Material and Construction: Concrete + glass

Category: Pavilion

Site context: Flatland facing the roadway

Area: 125 sqm @ 1345 sq ft

The brief

Total design is referring to the precedent study of Louis I Kahn

The solution

Since this is a kind of reference architecture, which is I need to reflect back architecture languages defined by Louis, I Kahn. First of all, material is really important, and secondly, best design by him.

The architecture

For overall composition of form, it’s easily identified the character by a creative use of geometric shapes of squares, cube, and circle. The composition is neatly done for further exploration of light and air. This complex has a consideration to pay careful attention to use the natural sunlight and airy movement. It’s clearly shown when sunrays entering this building in interesting positioned windows and openings. Furthermore, the combinations of several forms inside created a stack effect to the central, which help since there is no cross ventilation happen inside. Both natural elements bring architectural creation to life.

The definition space clearly shows on the structure laid out in geometric, formal schemes and axial layouts with a strong processional character of space and images, an approach that derives from the Beaux-Arts tradition. As expression focus upon centrality of space, it’s creating a human movement; in and out, and left or right. And as a small scale of structure, the concerned with creating strong formal distinctions between served spaces and servant spaces, it’s clearly done on the plan - the hierarchical definition of building functions. 

This building can be defined as ‘geometrical structuralism’ to identify the Vitruvius’s classification of architecture into three main categories; construction, function, and artistic creation. As the reflection study for Louis Isadore Kahn, one of the important terms is – Order. It means an ‘intersection point’ between the idea’s theory and an individual theory of order, on the one hand, and rationality of the built form on the other. As the building is a particularly subject of order, their structure, and geometry, mathematical and proportion, this has become a form and is comprehensible.

This building is very down to earth. The outside perspective of the building is very simple, but inside of the gallery shows a great artistic sense of human scale. The character shows by creation of different volume and form of spaces and rounded by heavy material finishes. It’s represented an important professional life in University of Malaya.

uno rubic container

Design idea: Modularity Prefabricated

Location: na – freestanding

Client: N.A.

Material and Construction: Steel structure

Category: sculpture (temporary)

Site context: N.A.

Area: 175 sqm @ 1900 sq ft

The brief
This is a practice of how to reused waste material of the construction site. This will lead us to know what should be happened on the site, which at the end – a lot of waste materials that later will be trash after the completion. This simple structure must be a temporary speak, which can be placed anywhere, anytime. So what is the best material?
 The solution
Site condition is a headache. It needs a proper site management to store a waste element, and also differentiate it like steel, brick, wood or others – what is the next step? It’s either recycled it or dumbs it somewhere. It’s for us to choose, and this is the lesson for this particular practice. I am choosing one of the best elements to be recycle – steel.

The architecture

The project is ‘temporary’ sculpture, which can be assembled and dismantle in any time. This is leading to my solution – modularity prefabricated dry construction. What type of building is defined as a skeleton – a rigid framework that provides protection and structure, which will show the real jointing and perfect detailing that help the structural strength.

Further exploration is to narrow down the definition of every word; modularity, prefabricated, and dry construction. Literally, the modularity here is about all ‘cube modules' which are representing a space, prefabricated is a method of how it has been fabricated in the factory before transporting to the site, and dry construction is reflecting the material selection – steel.

This project is a quick study for one of my interests of modularity and perfect linear. It’s a design a piece of art, which could be built, demolished, and recycled through an easy and straightforward way.

The use of steel structure to her as a main structure due to two reasons, the steel section still can be used after the sculpture is taken down and structural member can be a factory fabrication. This idea makes her easily transportable and fast construction, thus minimizing the construction schedule. The connection between steel members is just an idea of bolt and nut. As a temporary kind of idea, there is no welding needed.

The composition is focused more on a big scale of architectural; the main ‘rubic’ cube is a huge frame for every container to attach to this framework. It’s using a special adjustable metal plate pedestal for each container, which is attached inside the ‘rubic’ grid, while the cantilever part is one way of cross-bracing will be taking role. As a result; the perfect grid is a must, to make it easier and minimal amounts of sectional parts.

As I mention before, the ‘cube module’ is one of the ideas to make it easier. The combination of four cubes is to make it as one container. The jointing of that four cube is a combination, of ‘I’ beam and cross-bracing to strengthen it. This rigid ‘container’ later will be placed inside a ‘rubic’ kind of main structure.

As all material kinds of dry construction, there is less wet material such as concrete. The foot print is also been reducing to minimal the excavation and foundation works. It's a study of focusing a kind of prefabricated, which come with several parts, and done at the factory. Easily transportable and fast constructions just need a few days of preparation. It’s nearly 90% of Industrial Building System (IBS), and there is no additional sculpture, since it’s already a big piece of sculpture.

As a study of sculptural, I’m focusing this kind of structure to be placed on an industrial location. This should be a small gallery, which can be defined as a pavilion, and can be placed anywhere you like. To make it alive, the information and people must come together.

the hillside house

The name: The Hillside house

Design idea: Perfect Linear

Location: Damansara

Client: Mr. Pete

Material and Construction: Concrete + Glass

Category: Residential

Site context: The hilly side

A brief

The client is an outsider who is the lecturer close friends. His background is a software engineer who had a piece of land to develop. The strata title of land is for housing, which placed inside a gated community nearby Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. There is no specific cost or interest in architecture during the initial session. So as a student, we try to fulfill his need, which is sometime making a design not reflecting student individual identity.
 The solution

As the site is a very hybrid condition from plan and section. The approach is from the top which easier to make a space planning. Since there is no cost related, the idea will be very wild, but restricted with the needs of client.
 

The architecture

The idea is come from the client characteristic; the software engineer. They play a lot with a binary number, which can be called as a base-2 number system. They use just two main symbols; 0 and 1. This code is hardly to be read by a lay man, since their languages are very weird and only can be understanding by them. Small mistake in their languages makes the system not in order. This makes the planning in my design should be in a linear language; reflecting the principal of client who is everything must be in perfect.   

The idea is to use a single line as a main axis, which this linear axis must be related to the orientation of sun path diagram, and topography of existing site. This very perfect straight line is the use to be a contrast idea for the natural landscape surrounding; which is almost like a manmade (the house) vs. natural (the geography)
 
This space planning and placement are almost in mathematical order for purity and clarity. This linear axis can be divided into the vertical and horizontal direction, and dissected by several cross axial geometry. This idea of verticality and horizontality is very useful to define the good transition and maximum visual linkage, including the physical interaction along its house occupant.
 
The planning must take advantage for the scenario, which is a good position with a better space planning by inviting the nature surrounding inside the house.

To make it much more tropical ideas of dwelling, the planning must invite the nature surrounding into this house. In this planning, the basic element of nature had been introduced; the medium of a light, good cross ventilation, and water elements. It’s really been shown on plans, elevations and sections.

The site is unique; it framed the natural hill in front of it. The view for this site is almost multidirectional. To make it interested, we need to appreciate this premium view to bring inside the house; and use the infinity pool as a bridge of nature and the house. Contrast it; minimalist the negative impact of the road and neighbour by using some louvers and shading for privacy.
  
The atrium or central courtyard is the use to be one of the vertical lines in the heart of the house - for a connection among the volume inside, for a good visual interaction and also to bring an abundant natural lighting into the house. This hillside creation is one of the tropical contemporary architecture. With its double pitch roof, quite long overhang, material selection and space planning is very clear.