SALK GENERAL INFORMATION

INSTITUTE, PROJECT YEAR: 1959-1965

ARCHITECT: LOUIS I KHAN
CALIFORNIA LOCATION: SAN DIEGO, UNITED STATES
CATEGORY: UNIVERSITY
CONCEPT:
In 1959, Jonas Salk, the man who had discovered the vaccine for polio, approached Louis
I. Kahn intending to found and build a biological research center. He wanted to explore the
implications of science with humanity. His vision was to “create a facility worthy of a visit by
Picasso.”

Kahn’s scheme for the Salk Institute is spatially orchestrated in a similar way to a
monastery: a secluded intellectual community.
 ARCHITECTURE & DETAILS
• In illustrative way Salk institute project can be considered as ‘body’ itself. The two rectangular solid block on
each side act as a human lungs and river flowing in a central act as a food pipe. Around the building is
the function of needs and necessities required in biological institute.
The Skin reads the texture, weight, temperature and density.

• The Salk Institute by Kahn features classical elements such as

✓ Monumentality
✓ Served and serving spaces
✓ Measurability
✓ Symmetry, and non-industrial materials like marble.

• Kahn’s initial scheme consisted of three zones (standing apart) , all facing to the west: the Meeting house, the
village (or the residences) and the laboratories.

• The Meeting House was to be a large community and conference venue, while the Village was to have provided
living quarters; each part of the complex would then have been separated from its parallel neighbors by a water
garden. Ultimately, the Meeting House and Village were cut from the project, and only the laboratories were
built..

• The Salk Institute now consists of two mirror-image structures—each six stories tall—that flank a grand
travertine courtyard. Three floors house laboratories and the three levels above them provide access to utilities.

• At the west end are six floors of offices overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
• Kahn drew inspiration from Roman times to select “pozzolanic” concrete, which turns a subtle pink when
the sunlight hits. The lack of a finish is intentional: in some ways the look of the unfinished materials is a
reflection of the fundamental, bare-bones biology the scientists within strive to uncover,to better understand
disease and development.
ARCHITECTURE & DETAILS
• The lab floors are column free spaces that are 65feet wide and 245feet long. The open design provides
flexibility to the ongoing configuration of the labs.
• As a response to the concept of servant and served spaces Kahn separated floors that contained lab
spaces and offices from ones that contained electricity, ventilation and other utilities. These interstitial
spaces allow maintenance and other work to go on without interrupting science.
• In order to develop an inspiring environment for scientific research, Kahn flooded the institute with
daylight. He designed a series of light wells 40 feet long and 25 feet wide on both sides of each
building to bring daylight into the lowest level.

• The wide, open courtyard echoes the vastness of the sky, which, when combined with the enormity of
the ocean, is meant to remind the individual of how small we really are. It's a humbling effect and plays
to Kahn's interests with the measurability of physical scale versus the immeasurability of intellect
and inspiration.

• Loius khan wanted to fill the central space between the rhythmically placed laboratories with a garden
but Luis Barragán convinced him to leave the courtyard to be an open plaza 'creating a façade to
the sky' through an infinite cosmos void to represent forever.

• The presence of water channel and water fountain in the heart of the open courtyard is inspired
by Mughal gardens of India and Pakistan.
 DESIGN PRINCIPLE: AXIS
LABORATORY
BUILDING ON NORTH WING
NORTH

ENTRANCE OPEN COURTYARD

EAST PARKING AT THE HEART
LOT
LABORATORY
BUILDING ON SOUTH OCEAN
SOUTH WING

SITE PLAN OF SALK INSTITUTE

• The site plan of Salk Institute follows an imaginative axis along the empty courtyard,
promoting mirror views along its path.
• This axis starting from the entrance of the institute terminates at the ocean on the north.
• The axis acts as a gateway through the open courtyard leading towards the ocean view
or vista beyond.
 DESIGN PRINCIPLE: BILATERAL SYMMETRY
• The Salk Institute is a Beaux-Arts plan: perfectly symmetrical.
• The imaginative axis derives its perspective by uniting the courtyard with the ocean and sky beyond, It is established by a symmetrical and balanced
arrangement of laboratory buildings on the north and southern part of the site diving the open courtyard in the middle in two equal halves.

•The Salk Institute, consists of two long structures of six stories each that face each other across a wide plaza. They are
completely identical, creating a strong sense of Vertical symmetry across the entire site as well.

•This is accentuated by a single strip of running water called The River Of Life that flows down the exact centre of
the plaza towards an open vista of the Pacific Ocean.

•The route of water helps to break the hardness of the square to mark the axis and symmetry of the project. This tour
begins in a travertine marble and cross the square by a small channel to settle in a pool at a level slightly lower.

The River of Life water feature

DESIGN PRINCIPLE: TRANSFORMATION
There are three phases in the design development of Salk Institute.
FIRST PHASE
• Laboratories were clustered in four towers with its services and
utilities separate from its proximity.
• Residences were clustered inwardly focusing on courtyards.
• A rectilinear meeting complex of lecture halls and auditorium were
joined linearly by an ambulatory.
SECOND PHASE
• Four, two-storey laboratory blocks were arranged around a pair of
garden courts, with a central alley for service and air intake to the
two central blocks.
• Residences were arranged as sixteen pavilions along the contours of
the ridge. Meeting place clustered in a rather centralized manner.
FINAL PHASE
• Two six-storey laboratory blocks with five " porticos of studies"
facing a central plaza were implemented.
• Residences remain arranged by contour of the ridge with seven
different types of two-storey buildings equipped with ample porches
and balconies lined both sides of a narrow pedestrian street.
• Meeting place was still centrally arranged, but the square theatre of
the earlier plan has been replaced by a classical fan-shaped
proscenium- which introduces visitors to the complex.
 • In the Meeting Place, Kahn’s obsession with geometry and transformation becomes clear.
Due to the unspecific programmatic nature of the Meeting Place, Kahn had much more
DESIGN PRINCIPLE: freedom to experiment with its design.

TRANSFORMATION • the plan for the Meeting Place reads as a series of meticulous and deliberate studies in
geometry and transformation, much more complex and experimental than the design of the
laboratory spaces.

DEVELOPMENT
OF
LABORATORY
SPACE FORM

DIAGRAMS SHOWING THE

TRANSFORMATION OF MEETING SPACE
PLAN
 DESIGN PRINCIPLE: REPETITION & RHYTHM

RHYTHMICALLY
PLACED STUDY
TOWERS

• The study towers located in front of the laboratories on each side of the open courtyard follows a pattern or rhythm depicting repetition. The
repetitive character of the placement of these towers at a regular interval within the balconies forms a module of space
• The simplicity continues through the rhythm of evenly spaced bays located on the interior courtyard. This perspective is dynamic and
creates intimate spaces within the voids and balconies for the scientists to view the ocean.
• Towers jutting into the courtyard provide study space for senior faculty. Towers at the east end contain heating, ventilating and other
support systems.
• Teak panels accent the 36 faculty studies, places of quiet contemplation for Salk's professors. The sawtoothed arrangement allows for full
views of the Pacific and plaza.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
RHYTHM
• In terms of shadow and lighting, Loius khan followed the rhythm
of no-light, light, no-light in the inner courtyard. This rhythm is
set by placing columns and gap between each other which
leads to shadow.
• In the institute, the shadow appears as a thin sheet which is placed
on a highly dense concrete. The movement of shadow, as time
passes could experience a vivid visual sense and feel the change in
atmosphere.
• Dark shadow offer a fine texture on the surface. Shade turns into
an essential element to reveal the arrangement and the form of
Kahn’s monolithic volumes.
 THE GENERAL INFORMATION
BUILDING TYPE: GREEK TEMPLE
PARTHENON, ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: CLASSICAL
LOCATION: ATHENS, GREECE
GREECE TIME: 432BC-447BC
HEIGHT: 13.72M (45.0 FT)
SIZE: 69.5 BY 30.9M ( 228 BY 101FT)
ARCHITECT: IKTINOS, KALLIKRATES
 INTRODUCTION & HISTORY
• The Parthenon is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron.

• The Athenians had to rebuild the temple of Athena that had been ruined and wanted to celebrate the victory over the Persians, and to give thanks to Athena, who
helped them win the battles, a temple to the goddess Athena and a treasury, where gold was stored in a room at the back of the temple.
As a result The Parthenon was built.

An earlier structure known as the Older

Parthenon or Pre-Parthenon once STATUE OF
existed on the site of the current ATHENA PRO
Parthenon. MACHOS

Many historians believe the Older

Parthenon was under construction in PROPYLAEA
480 B.C. when the Persian CHALCOTHEKE
Empire attacked Athens and
destroyed the Acropolis, although some ATHENA NIKE
experts dispute this theory. TEMPLE
ERECHTHEION

The Parthenon was heavily damaged OLD TEMPLE

in 1687 by Turkish bombardment. It OF
was currently being carefully ATHENA, DESTROYED
reconstructed. BY PERSIANS

SITE PLAN
 TRIGLYPH
AKROTERION
ATTIC FRIEZE
CORNICE PRONAOS
METOPE

SIMA

PERISTYLE
ENTABLATURE
OPISTHODOMOS
CAPITAL
ABACUS
COLUMN THE ANATOMY OF
PTERON
PEDIMENT
CELLA A LIVING TEMPLE
ARCHITECTURE
• Parthenon Rome, is the largest Doric style temple; however, with an innovative touch of
Ionic style.
• The Parthenon is a Doric peripteral temple, which means the temple plan is rectangular
in shape and is built over 23,000 square feet base. It measures 30.88 meters by 69.5
meters.
• The inner cella consisting of ‘Naos’ and ‘Sekos’ is 29.8 meters long and 19.2 meters
wide.
• The larger of the two interior rooms, the naos, housed the cult statue. The smaller
room (the opisthodomos) was used as a treasury.
• Also, there are steps leading to the temple on all four sides.

• The architecture of Parthenon follows a 4:9 ratio, mathematically known as the Golden
Ratio. Moreover, the ratio of the height of the building to its width, and the diameter of
columns to the spacing between them, all fall under the 4:9 ratio.
• The building stands on the old foundation of the Pre-Parthenon made up of limestone.
• The roof of the structure is covered with overlapping marble tiles.
• It consists of a series of low steps on every side, and a colonnade (8 x 17) of
Doric columns extending around the periphery of the entire structure.
• Each entrance has an additional six columns in front of it.
• The structure of Parthenon rests on 46 outer columns and 23 inner
columns, with 20 flutes in each column. The columns slightly lean inwards
and are not straight, creating an optical illusion.

• A colonnade of fluted, baseless columns with square capitals stands on a three-

stepped base and supports an entablature, or roof structure, consisting of a CELLA IS SURROUNDED BY A SERIES OF COLONNADES
plain architrave, or band of stone; a frieze of alternating triglyphs (vertically
grooved blocks) and metopes (plain blocks with relief sculpture, now partly
removed); and, at the east and west ends, a low triangular pediment, also with
relief sculpture (now mostly removed).

• The colonnade, consisting of 8 columns on the east and west and 17 on the north
and south, encloses a walled interior rectangular chamber, or cella, originally
divided into three aisles by two smaller Doric colonnades closed at the west end
just behind the great cult statue.
• The east and west ends of the interior of the building are each faced by a portico
of six columns. Measured by the top step of the base, the building is
101.34 feet (30.89 metres) wide and 228.14 feet (69.54 metres) long.
 • The floor plan of the parthenon here follows the design principle of axis
starting from east collonades and terminating at the west collonades cutting
through pronaos, cella and opisthodomos.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE: • The columns at the start of the parthenon also follows an imaginative
AXIS vertical axis depicting two mirror views of them which are coincident with
the axis.
• This vertical arrangement of mirror images is established by an optical
illusion.
 DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
BILATERAL
SYMMETRY
• The axis in Parthenon is established by a
balanced symmetrical arrangement of
equivalent columns in each side diving both
the vertical and horizontal planes in two equal
and identical halves.
• The balanced, mirror & equivalent
arrangement implies the presence of bilateral
symmetry to the visitor's eyes through optical
illusion.
• The placement of the columns and beams
provide balance for the structure. The structure
is relatively stable, but it is evident that some
of the materials are starting to deteriorate.

The columns are slightly curved and they bulge at the top to create the optical illusion of straight
and perfect symmetry.
 DESIGN PRINCIPLE: RHYTHM
• The recurrence of columns along all the four sides surrounding the temple of Athena in the heart
gives a sculptural appearance to the Parthenon.
• This rhythm is only established or confined to the visiotr's eyes as one moves or advance through a
sequence of these collonades.
• The parthenon is now mostly made up of beams and stone columns. The thick columns are to carry
a heavy load. The marble beams on top are short and heavy.
• Among them are an upward curvature of the base along the ends and repeated in the entablature; an
imperceptible, delicate convexity (entasis) of the columns as they diminish in diameter toward
the top; and a thickening of the four corner columns to counteract the thinning effect of being seen
at certain angles against the sky.
• To the unaided eye, columns tend to look narrower in the middle than at the top or bottom.

• Each of the columns in the Parthenon was built

with a slight bulge in the middle , to make
them appear "STRAIGHT'.
• Furthermore, the spacing between the columns
appear smaller towards the centre.
Therefore, they were spaced wider apart
accordingly.

• This is how the characteristic of rhythm is

established in The Parthenon.
EXTERIOR VIEW INTERIOR VIEW
 • The Parthenon is the best example in Greek temple architecture of the practice of optical
refinement.
• The Parthenon is remarkable for the fact that it includes almost no straight lines.
OPTICAL • Both the entablature and the base platform curve upward at the centre,
REFINEMENT the metopes lean outward, and the columns slightly swell in the centre.
• The intention of these ‘optimal refinements’ has been the subject of some conjecture.
 THANK YOU

-SUBMITTED BY
Pori Sonowal
18BArch 25
SUB- THEORY OF DESIGN-I