A column Kahn
It was an event so delightful and so thought-wonderful that from it almost all our life in architecture stems. The arch, the vault and the dome mark equally evocative times when they knew what to do from how to do it and how to do it from what to do. Today these form and space phenomena are as good as they were yesterday and will always be good because they proved to be true to order and in time revealed their inherent beauty. In the architecture of stone the single stone became greater than the quarry. Stone and architectural order were one.
A column when it is used should be still regardedas a great event in the making of What a column is in steel or concrete is not yet felt as a part of us. It must be differentfrom stone. Stone we know and feel its beauty. Materialwe now use in architecturewe know only for its superiorstrengthbut not for its meaningfulform. Concrete and steel must become greaterthan the engineer. The expected wondersin concrete and steel confront us. We know from the spirit of architecturethat their characteristics must be in harmonywith the spaces that want to be and evoke what spaces can be.
Forms and spaces today have not found their position in order though the ways of making things are new and resourceful. A space in architectureshows how it is made. The column or wall defines its length and breadth;the beam or vault its height. Nothing must intrude to blur the statement of how a space is made. The forms characterizing the great eras of architecture present themselves and tempt us to adapt them to concrete and steel. The solid stones become thinner and eye deceiving devices are found to hide the unwanted but inevitable services.
Columns and beams omogenized with the partitions and ceiling tile concealing hangers, conduits, pipes and ducts deform the image of how a space is made or served and therefore presents no reflection of order and meaningful form. We are still imitating the architecture of solid stones. Building elements of solids and voids are inherent in steel and concrete. These voids are in time with the service needs of spaces. This characteristic combined with space needs suggest new forms. One quality of a space is measured by its temperature by its light and by its ring.
The intrusionof mechanicalspace needs can push forward and obscure form in tructure. Integrationis the way of nature. We can learn from nature. How a space is served with light air and quiet must be embodied in the space order concept which provides for the harbouring of these services. The nature of space is further characterized by the minor spaces that serve it. Storage-rooms, service-rooms and cubicals must not be partitioned areas of a single space structure, they must be given their own structure.
The space order concept must extend beyond the harbouring of the mechanical services and include the “servant spaces” aJoining the spaces served. This will give meaningfulform to the hierarchyof spaces. Long ago they built with solid stones Today we must build with “hollow stones”. with a book goes to the light. A librarybegins that way. He will not go fifty feet away to an electric light. The carrellis the niche which could be the beginningof the space order and its structure. In a librarythe column always begins in light. Unnamed,the space made by the column structureevokes its use as a carrell.
A man who reads in seminarwill look for the light but the light is somewhatsecondary. The readingroom is impersonal. t is the meeting in silence of the readersand their books. The large space, the small spaces, the unnamedspaces and the spaces that serve. The way they are formed with respect to light is the problemof all buildings. This one startswith a man who wants to read a book. Dedication Ritual is the chapel A chapel ofa university Ritual is inspired Dedication is personal Inspiredby a great teacher the fortunateyoung man winks to the chapel as he passes. He feels dedicationand performshis own ritual.
He was there though he never opened its door. The rally centersthere and inspiresits own ritual. A man is honored there. Dedication is its essence. When I first came to Pisa I went straight in the direction of the Piazza. Nearing it and seeing a distant glimpse of the Tower filled me so that I stopped short to enter a shop where I bought an ill fitting English Jacket. Not daring to enter the Piazza I diverted to other streets toward it but never allowing myself to arrive. The next day I went straight for the Tower touched its marble and that of the Duomo and Baptistery. The next day I boldly entered the buildings.
So it is with a universitychapel. Possibly a space protectedby an ambulatoryenteredfrom an arcade in a dimensionedgarden. near and don’t enter and those who go in. House A house Home In a certain space it is good to sleep. In anotherit is good to dine or be with others. The serving spaces and the free spaces combine and are placed to the gardenor to the streetto suggesttheir use. House implies a place good also for another. lt is that quality which is closer to architecture. It reflectsa way of life. It does not make small spaces for small people. Spaces transcend function. A House is more specific. Louis Kahn
