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Analysis Of The Essay 'Monumentality' By Louis Kahn

1060 Words5 Pages

How can Modernism, which is hailed because of its minimalism, rationalism, and functionalism, produce anything that can remotely be considered a monument? This is a question scholars and architects pondered during the 1940s. Moreover, monuments were not actually required until the post-war era. With the war came totalitarian regimes well acquainted with monumental architecture and unprecedented global causalities, which resulted in a push for memorial projects. One architect that becomes interested in this faltering was Louis Kahn. In his aptly titled essay “Monumentality,” Kahn tackles this question of monumentality. Firstly, he believes “monumentality is enigmatic” and “it cannot be intentionally created.” However, he does believe that all …show more content…

The Kimbell Art Museum consists of 16 parallel vaults made of concrete. These cycloidal barrel vaults are visible from the upper floor plan, where the art is located. With the Kimbell Art Gallery, Kahn wanted to create a system of bringing in natural light with which to view the art, align with the requirements of the commissioners. Previously, at the Yale Art Gallery, Kahn was unable to bring in natural light into all the space as the street facades have no fenestration. Coinciding with his thoughts on monumentality, Kahn also believed structure is the answer to issues of lighting, describing structure as “the giver of light.” Kahn’s cycloid barrel vault is the structural solution to the many issues with trying to bring in natural light. Natural light can often be too pointed and unevenly distributed. This uneven distribution of high intensity of light can cause a glare. To avoid this beam effect natural light has when uncontrolled, the concrete cycloid vault comes with an attached aluminum piece as well. This metal piece spans the opening at the top of the vault with curving wings. Light is reflected of the aluminum to the interior walls of the vaults and softly illuminated the gallery space in a soft glow. While the building catches the eye with elements like white travertine walls and heavy concrete vaults, there is no doubt that the natural light illuminating the gallery is the aspect most likely to be considered monumental. This light effect would not be possible without the attention to structure given by Kahn and, therefore, gives merit to Kahn’s claim that monumentality is achieved through

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The need to memorialize events or people is complex; in some cases, monuments honor moments of great achievement, while in other cases, monuments pay homage to deep sacrifice. A monument 's size, location, and materials are all considerations in planning and creating a memorial to the past. In any case, the need to honor or pay homage to a specific person or event is prevalent within society. A monument has to mean something to the society it is place in. The location of a monument is perhaps the most important aspect of creating a successful monument to honor and show respect to a person or event.

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The only light in the Pantheon was called the oculus and it is a circular opening of 8.3 meters at the top of the copula. The opening is the only source of light in the Pantheon. The interior of the Pantheon is made up in the same Egyptian granite but in a reddish hue13. Both concrete and bricks were used in the main walls; the foundation ring is 7.30 meters thick while the main walls are 6.20 meters thick. The walls have chambers, staircases, and large exedrae that open the interior of the Pantheon; the exedrae splits the rotunda into eight large piers that are connected by the upper level and by an arrangement of vaults, while simultaneously relieving the

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The gallery of kings circles the towers like a couple of sleeves and the towers themselves for all their many parts give the impression of being a solitary solidarity in their blend of quality and straightforwardness and despite the reality they are made out of various parts . The band formed by the show of kings closes the two lower stories. From the corner to corner frames of the entryways straight up to the towers one feels a solid inclination of retreat. Gothic Architecture.(Frankl and Crossley, 2000, p. 144) The interrelationship between the heights of the entryways the windows the displays and the pinnacle shapes an amicable mood as do the estimations of broadness of the north pinnacle in connection to the central segment and the south pinnacle and of the docks in connection to the diverse openings.

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Bernini and Bellori had described the lighting of the Pantheon and Caravaggio’s paintings, respectively, back in the seventeenth century. Whereas, Bernini described the Pantheon lighting as light from above that enhances the beauty of any object or person within the space. On the other hand, Bellori described Caravaggio’s paintings as a great example of chiaroscuro, of which was achieved by using minimal artificial lighting just to expose the central figures and leaving the rest in shadow. Both Bernini and Bellori appreciates the lighting in the spaces and of the objects. This analysis agrees with both Bellori and Bernini with their description of the lighting and personal opinions of the lighting.

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Tectonics is defined as the science or art of construction, both in relation to use and artistic design. It refers not just to the activity of making the materially requisite construction that answers certain needs but rather to the activity that raises this construction as an art form. It is concerned with the modeling of material to bring the material into presence - from the physical into the meta-physical world (Maulden, 1986). Since tectonics is primarily concerned with the making of architecture in a modern world, its value is seen as being a partial strategy for an architecture rooted in time and place therefore beginning to bring poetry in construction. Tectonics, however, has the capacity to create depth-ness of context resulting in the implicit story being told by the tectonic expression.

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