Louis I. Kahn: The Making of a Room

Early Work

"The Plan - A society of rooms is a place good to live work learn"

Louis Kahn developed an approach to design that was very different from that of other progressive architects of his time. By the mid-1950s, he had rejected the modernist convention of an open floor plan, which with few interior walls, favored a flexible
use of space. Instead, he adopted the idea that the room was the basis of architecture. Each room was to have a unique character, which could be recognized by all its inhabitants. These purposeful spaces were generated by his ideas for the plans of
his buildings. He experimented with many distinct ways of organizing rooms, among them the pavilion format of the Fruchter house, in which each unit is devoted to a particular
function.

Kahn expected that the spaces he created would encourage three kinds of activities—living, working, and learning. Yet, though he created a set of distinct rooms, he did not necessarily isolate their functions. He developed an arrangement of rooms
that would foster human interaction, and he hoped that his interiors would encourage circulation between the rooms. Thus his spaces would instill a sense of community among their users, creating what he described as a “society of rooms.”

Click on the thumbnail images below for a larger view.

	Research Institute for Advanced Science Baltimore area 1956-58, unbuilt Partial Plan Pencil, Negro pencil, and colored pencil on vellum Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 030.I.A.445.1
	Mr. and Mrs. H. Leonard Fruchter House Philadelphia 1951-54, unbuilt Plan Studies Pencil on paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 030.I.A.390.1
	Mr. and Mrs. M. Morton Goldenberg House Rydal, Pennsylvania 1959, unbuilt Section through Bedroom, Central Court and Kitchen Graphite, Negro pencil, and colored pencil on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 030.I.A.480.5
	Mr. and Mrs. M. Morton Goldenberg House Rydal, Pennsylvania 1959, unbuilt Plan Pencil and colored pencil on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 030.I.A.480.2
	Inner Harbor Project Baltimore 1969-73, unbuilt Perspective of Atrium Charcoal on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 030.I.A.790.158
	Inner Harbor Project Baltimore 1969-73, unbuilt Plan Study Charcoal on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 030.I.A.790.11
	Robert H. Fleisher House Elkins Park, Pennsylvania 1959, unbuilt Section through Dining Room, Living Room, and Covered Terrace Pencil and colored pencil on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 030.I.A.530.6
	Kimbell Art Museum Fort Worth, Texas 1966-72 Section through Gallery Charcoal and colored pencil on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 030.I.A.730.138

"The Room is the place of the mind"

"In a small room one does not say what one would in a large room"

"A room with only one other person could be generative. The vectors of each meet"

"A room is not a room without natural light"