MONUMENTALITY

LE CORBUSIER
LOUIS I. KAHN
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
SEMESTER 6

LECTURE 6
 MONUMENTALITY - DEFINITION
• cannot be put in words, but it exists.
• has nothing to do with size. It has to do with proportions.
– A sculpture that is not monumental can be whatever size it is.

• Monumentality expresses and seems to embody real

power by projecting a kind of aura that is not at all
symbolic but seems quite real and physical.
• A tangible sense of power is generated directly by
the strength and character of architectural form.

Eg The National World War

II Memorial
 Monumentality in architecture may be defined as a quality, a spiritual
quality inherent in a structure which conveys the feeling of its eternity, that
it cannot be added to or changed.
 KAHN AND MONUMENTALITY
• Kahn had experienced monumentality in the Beaux
Arts architecture he had studied in school, and saw it
lacking in the Modern Architecture he was practicing.

• And indeed Beaux Arts buildings were big, heavy, and

rooted in the past, but they no longer addressed our modern
conditions.

• He developed a CONTEMPORARY AND

MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE that MAINTAINED
A SYMPATHY FOR THE SITE.
 KAHN AND MONUMENTALITY
• SALK INSTITUTE, CALIFORNIA

• KIMBELL ART MUSEUM, TEXAS

• NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING,

DACCA

• I.I.M. AHMEDABAD

• YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY,

NEW HAVEN
 CORBUSIER AND MONUMENTALITY
• Monumentality is seen as a characteristic in most of his
buildings.

• According to Corbusier, the expression of monumentality was

one of modern architecture’s important tasks.

• The aim of this monumentality is to express the power of

humans acting together and to celebrate the essential
nobility of Man.

• In his own words: “A palace is a house endowed with

dignity.”
• CHAPEL AT RON CHAMP

• THE CAPITOL, CHANDIGARH