Louis I. Kahn: The Making of a Room

Early Work

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

"The Room is the place of the mind"

Louis Kahn searched for the essence of a building by looking back to the initial human desires that demanded its creation. He believed that design developed naturally from these basic instincts, grounded in an understanding of the function that each room would serve. It was the mind of the architect that translated the ideal of the room into physical
form.

In a 1971 speech, “The Room, the Street, and Human Agreement,” Kahn elaborated this concept: “The room is the beginning of architecture. It is the place of the mind. You in the room with its dimensions, its structure, its light respond to its character, its spiritual aura, recognizing that whatever the human proposes and makes becomes a life.”

The room of the mind can also be interpreted as a place inhabited by the mind. It encourages thought and reflection, and from this, the ideas for new buildings evolve. Kahn accommodated the realm of the intellect—learning, commemoration, and appreciation—in his innovative designs for libraries, memorials, and museums.

Click on the thumbnail images below for a larger view.

	Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Roosevelt Island, New York 1974-74, unbuilt Bird's-Eye Perspective Colored pencil on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical Museums Commission 030.I.A.885.56
	Memorial to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs Battery Park, New York 1966-72, unbuilt Perspective Pencil and Negro pencil on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical Museums Commission 030.I.A.690.37
	Memorial to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs Battery Park, New York 1966-72, unbuilt Model Wood, Plexiglas, and lead Fabricated by William Christensen, Linda Brenner, and Laurie Kass, 1991 The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania by the gift of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Col. # 305
	Phillips Exeter Academy, Library Exeter, New Hampshire 1965-72 Perspective of Reading Ariea with Study Carrels Pencil and Negro pencil on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical Museums Commission 030.I.A.710.140
	Yale Center for British Arts and British Studies New Haven, Connecticut 1969-74 Section of Top-Floor Galleries Charcoal on tracing paper Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical Museums Commission 030.I.A.805.455

"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"