Yale University Art Gallery, Louis Kahn PDF

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Analyze the work of Louis Kahn...

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University of Dammam College of Architecture and Planning Department of Higher Education Masters of Architect Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (1951–1953), the first significant commission of Louis Kahn and his first masterpiece replete with technical innovations. This building was the first of three art museums that Kahn designed throughout his career and represented a dramatic change for the conventional architecture of museums in America and in all recognized buildings as a whole. This work marked the appearance of Kahn as a designer who did not follow the then prevailing idea of "form follows function" and was distinguished by the international style.

Special Topics in Sustainable Architecture Done by: Enas Al-Humam ID# 121125006 Presented to: Prof. Zainab Faruqui Ali

Yale University Art Gallery, Louis Kahn Yale University Art Gallery, located on the Chapel Street between York and High streets, was a real turning point in Louis Kahn's career (as well as American architecture of the time), becoming its first work monumental. The architect designed it during his stay at the School of Architecture at the university, which he was been invited to as a critic. The Art Gallery's design has been celebrated not only for its beauty, geometry and light, but also for its innovative structural engineering. The gallery houses a significant and encyclopedic collection of art; it possesses especially renowned collections of early Italian painting, African sculpture, and modern art. Its holdings of American decorative and fine arts are amongst the best in existence.

Fig.(1): Northwest façade of Yale University Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

“A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable” Louis Kahn

Yale University Art Gallery 2013

History Yale Art Gallery represents two different phases of Yale architecture. The gallery consists of three interconnected structures: the gothic building Swarthout, the 1866 Hall Street, and the main building designed in 1953 by Louis Kahn (see fig.(2)). Kahn’s building was a significant departure from the dominant neogothic style of the Yale University campus. From the street the building seems as a monolithic windowless brick facade.

Fig.(2): Yale Art Gallery three interconnected structures

Concept With the Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn sets new concepts such as symmetry, clear separation between space and another, and a new vocabulary based on the triangle and the circle. The triangle as an element appears on the stairs and as structural concept in the construction of the concrete roof structure designed as a waffle-slab (see fig.(3)).

Geometry Fig.(3): Form analysis of Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

concrete slabs concrete pillars concrete walls brick walls

Fig.(4): Schematic axonometric of Yale Art Gallery

The building consists of two main bodies, crossed vertically by pure geometric shapes, such as rectangle, circle or equilateral triangle. The two rectangles share a main axis of symmetry. The frame structure generates rectangles that meet in the central golden ratio (see fig.(3)). In addition, the base is twice the height. The curtain wall façades was applied on two sides, and the third (southwest) is a brick, windowless, monolithic façade (see fig.(5)). This is due to two reasons; the first is to keep harmony with the neoGothic building of the gallery so that it contradicts with the old but not much; 2|Pag e

Yale University Art Gallery 2013 and the second reason is due to the need to avoid excessive sun exposure in southern. Therefore the north side of the gallery receives a more diffused and soft lighting, ideal for the display of art works.

Fig.(5): Southwest elevation of the Yale University Art Gallery, showing the brick, windowless, monolithic facade of Kahn’s building. Image by Ennead Architects

Structure The Art Gallery was constructed of brick, reinforced concrete, glass, and steel which was a significant departure from neo-gothic style dominant so far in the Campus of the University. Mainly, the modulated rectangular structure of concrete was not only supporting but also contributed to the image of the building (see fig.(6)).

Fig.(6): Exterior elevation of Yale Art Gallery showing the structural materials

The Art Gallery was the first to use concrete roof structure consists of a tetrahedron with special armor that exposes the light fixtures and duct air conditioning. It also decreases the height of the floor-to-floor, channeling the air through the building’s structure (see fig.(7)). These tetrahedral concrete panels and slabs formed both the floor of a room as the roof of which was on the ground floor while leaving enough space for the placement of the various building systems. The resulting spaces, between where lies a core of movement, remained free of the strict defined walls. Below are the plans of Yale University Art Gallery, the 1953 main building designed by Louis Kahn.

Fig.(7): The tetrahedral ceiling, Yale Art Gallery

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Fig.(8): Ground Floor Plan, Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

Fig.(9): First Floor Plan, Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

Fig.(10): Second Floor Plan, Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

Fig.(11): Third Floor Plan, Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

Fig.(12): Basement Floor Plan, Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

Fig.(13): Reflected Ceiling Plan, Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

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Interior Spaces The two prismatic, rectangles areas are served by a central core contains of facilities, elevators and stairs, and spaces servants. The exhibition rooms are created using segmental modular panels that subdivide the space. When it was opened in November 1953, the Gallery of Art and Design Centre of the University had spacious open spaces for the exhibition of the work and study spaces for use by students of art and architecture. The ceiling was of precast concrete which housed the gallery’s lighting and ventilation; it was an innovative structural and engineering system of hollow concrete tetrahedrons that combine a number of functions and give the interiors a rich and moody quality.

Fig.(14): An interior space of Yale Art Gallery showing the open space with subdivision panels and precast concrete ceiling

Light Light is one of the cornerstones of Kahn's architecture. Clear example of this is the shade and texture generated by the tetrahedral forged with either natural light or artificial light (see fig.(16)).

through the waffle slab

Fig.(16): Magic of light

A key element is the input light that arises from skylight crowning the cylindrical stairwell. The light passes through glass blocks and rebounds in a triangle of great track triangular reflecting the geometry of the stairs (see fig.(15)). Fig.(15): Light passing through the cylindrical stairwell

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Entrance and Circulation The entrance stairway at Yale is located at the bottom of a space formed by the recession of the Southwest flat wall which gives access to a door built of glass to sort of slide into the building (see fig.(17)). From outside the access leads to a hall that is diverted to the open spaces of the first floor (see fig.(18)).

Fig.(17): Yale Art Gallery Main Entrance, Louis Kahn

The horizontal continuity of this space is broken by the central elements: the circular enclosure of the main staircase, the elevator, the core mechanics, and another exit stairway into the backyard (see fig.(19)).

The Staircase

Fig.(18): Main entrance of Yale Art Gallery from inside, Louis Kahn

The main staircase is enclosed within a cylindrical body made of reinforced concrete not reflected to the outside and topped by a skylight with a triangle of concrete (see fig.(20 & 21)). Every staircase is describing a symmetrical triangle in plan. The concrete cylinder penetrates vertically through the floor levels as a confirmation of human finitude (see fig.(22)). The staircase triangular top- inspired by the Pyramids - repeats the concrete floor, with an important role for the entry of light as in the edge of the silo, between it and the roof of the main gallery is covered by curved blocks glass allow light to fill the cylinder, keeping the triangular structure of the roof as a black void against the light.

Fig.(19): Horizontal circulation is interrupted by the main stairwell

The black granite of the stairs enhances the sense of depth while the light coming from top to the basement enhances the sense of bottom. Although this triangular staircase is the most recognized and studied in the gallery, the building has another staircase at the opposite end.

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Fig.(20): Main triangle staircase

Fig.(21): The triangular element that topped the staircase which repeats the concrete floor

Fig.(22): Detail of the main staircase, Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

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Materials 

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The concrete structure is seen on the roof in the design of a hollow triangles solution, which eliminates the false ceiling. The building’s structure is made of brick walls and curtain walls, glass and steel. The pavements communications area and stairs are coated polished black granite (see fig.(23)). The floors are tile triangular lattice formed tetrahedral concrete panels. Fig.(23): Main staircase steps are coated The interior’s raw materials are no longer black granite calling attention to the concrete walls where they hang the works of art. The soldiers of the galleries and other rooms are wooden. The horizontal divisions on the brick facades are limestone.

Discussion Yale Art Gallery is classified as one of the great iconic buildings in the history of architecture due to the following reasons:  

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The building is designed as a state of the art in modern style that signifies our time, yet it is still warm and inviting. The building is designed with simple elegance presenting humility, humbleness, and clarity; although Kahn’s building is modern, it blended smoothly with the neo-gothic style dominant on Yale’s Campus in a proportional overall look. Louis Kahn building provided an innovative advanced technology. The building holds a highly flexible inner space with the absence of solid fixed walls. The effects of shade and texture reflected from the lighting weather it was a natural or artificial create different sensations according to the space need. Although Kahn used raw materials for the inner walls of his gallery, it didn’t give the felling of an unfinished work; on the contrary, it focused on the art work displayed over.

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References Yale University Art Gallery. (2008, 12 31). Retrieved 10 1, 2013, from Travel. Architecture. Travel.: http://thommckenzie.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html Louis Kahn. (2013, 9 26). Retrieved 10 1, 2013, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kahn Yale University Art Gallery. (2013, 8 12). Retrieved 10 1, 2013, from en.wikiarquitectura: http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Yale_University_Art_Gallery Yale University Art Gallery. (2013, 9 18). Retrieved 10 1, 2013, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University_Art_Gallery Cantero, E. G. (2013, 3 4). YALE ART GALLERY, LOUIS KAHN. Retrieved 10 1, 2013, from Segunda Piel: http://segundapielarquitectura.blogspot.com/2013/03/yale-art-gallery-louiskahn_4.html Smee, S. (2012, 12 13). Yale University Art Gallery is a masterpiece. Retrieved 10 1, 2013, from The Boston Blobe: http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2012/12/13/yaleuniversity-art-gallery-opens-its-expanded-space-andmasterpiece/iCSepRYDchUH5BoL2GLuYK/story.html Yale University Art Gallery — 1953. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 1, 2013, from Preserving the past, Building thr future: http://www.buildings.yale.edu/property.aspx?id=26

Appendix

Fig.(24): Site Plan of Yale University Art Gallery showing Louis Kahn’s building in red color

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Fig.(25): Sections and Exterior Elevations of Yale Art Gallery, Louis Kahn

Fig.(26): Yale University Art Gallery Southwest Elevation and Section

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