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This paper is an exploration of Kahn’s theories such as: materials, form, function, and silence and light. ...
Introduction
Architecture is a meeting point between the measurable and the immeasurable. ... Steven Holl once wrote, “The thinking-making couple of architecture occurs in silence. Afterward, these “thoughts” are communicated in the silence of phenomenal experiences. We hear “music” of architecture as we move through spaces while arcs of sunlight beam white light and shadow. ...
“Silence and Light” is a concept created and adored by Kahn, and one that dominated the later half of his designs. Kahn defines the word silence as “The immeasurable or that which has not yet come to be.” According to him, the immeasurable is “The force that propels the creative spirit toward the measurable, to the light. When the inspired has reached that what it is, that which is known, he has reached the light.”
Precisely expressing the architect’s passion for design, Kahn wrote "Inspiration is the feeling at the beginning of the threshold where Silence and Light meet. Silence being the immeasurable desire to be. Desire to express, the source of new need, meets Light, the measurable, giver of all presence, by will, by law, the measure of thing already made, at a threshold which is inspiration, the sanctuary of art, the treasury of shadow. ... Thus Kahn began one of the most successful executions of the “Silence and Light” in the library at Philips Exeter Academy. ... The choice of material combined with numerous plays of light truly embodies the spirit of Kahn’s philosophy at Exeter Academy. ... I may suggest then, that if the purpose of institution lies within the silence, then the physical materialization becomes the light.”
Kahn believed that the first schools emerged from silence, from the desire to learn. ... His ideas came into a rich design packed with meaning and full of light. ... “The Library gave Light to Khans Silence.”
From the Silence to the Light
After receiving the commission for the Library at Phillips Exeter Academy, Louis Kahn first asked himself what a library should be. ... There should be a place with great tables on which the librarian can put the books, and the readers should be able to take the books and go to the light. ... Kahn says “From this idea I will “grow” three different spaces; one where students will come together in the presence of books, another of the books, and a third for reading in the light. ... Following this path, I shall proceed to illustrate the Silence behind the Light at the Exeter Library. I will do my best to show how a user would experience the light. ... As one nears the facade, you will discover variations in the width of the masonry piers between the windows (figure 3). ... ” “As one walks between the light and shadow of the arcade, their senses tingle with the delight of knowing that something special waits inside. ... ” As previously stated, it was Kahn’s intention to create three different spaces: one where students would come together in the presence of books, another of the books, and a third for reading in the light. ... ”
When Kahn spoke of the plan, he said “I wanted create the interaction of space to space, from light to light. ... When you see a plan, you can say that it is the structure of the spaces in their light. ... This meeting place occurs on the roof, in the presence of the truest forms of light, the sun.”
Light
When one experiences the Library at Phillips Exeter Academy, “he or she cannot help but notice the constant shifting of Silence and Light.
Approximate Word count = 2945
Approximate Pages = 11.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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