Yale School of Architecture

Order and Form

Author(s): Louis I. Kahn
Source: Perspecta, Vol. 3 (1955), pp. 46-63
Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of Perspecta.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566835 .
Accessed: 25/01/2011 11:50

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 59

Orderis
Design is form-making in order
Formemergesoutof a systemof construction
Growth is a construction
In order is creativeforce
In design is themeans--where withwhat when withhowmuch
Thenatureof spacereflectswhatit wantsto be
Is the auditoriuma Stradavarius
or is it an ear
Is the auditoriuma creativeinstrument
keyedto Bachor Bartok
played by the conductor
or is it a conventionhall
In the natureof spaceis the spiritand the will to exist a certainway
Design mustcloselyfollow thatwill
Thereforea stripepaintedhorseis not a zebra.
Before a railroadstationis a building
it wantsto be a street
it growsoutof theneedsof street
out of the orderof movement
A meetingof contoursenglazed.
Thruthe nature-why
Thruthe order-what
Thrudesign-how
A Formemergesfrom the structuralelementsinherentin theform.
A domeis not conceivedwhenquestionsarise howto build it.
Nervigrowsan arch
Fullergrowsa dome
Mozart'scompositionsare designs
Theyare exercisesof order-intuitive
Design encouragesmoredesigns
Designsderivetheirimageryfrom order
Imageryis the memory--theForm
Style is an adoptedorder
Thesameorder createdthe elephantandcreatedman
Theyare differentdesigns
Begunfrom differentaspirations
Shapedfrom differentcircumstances
Order does not imply Beauty
Thesameordercreatedthe dwarfandAdonis
Design is not makingBeauty
Beautyemergesfrom selection
affinities
integration
love
Art is a form makinglife in order-psychic
Orderis intangible
It is a levelof creativeconsciousness
foreverbecoming higherin level
Thehighertheorderthemorediversityin design
Order supports integration
Fromwhatthe space wantsto be the unfamiliarmay be revealedto the architect.
Fromorderhe will derive creativeforce and powerof self criticism
to give form to this unfamiliar.
Beautywill evolve
Louis 1. Kahn
Night photo by Lionel Freedman.
Color photo by John Ebstel.