at the threshold of silence and light

Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute of Biological Studies

La Jolla, California

Visiting the Salk Institute is like coming home, with all the trepidations and joy in embracing one’s father.

What would today’s idea of development present as a context to someone who pursued inquiry rather than exhibition as the purpose; someone who explored the limits of light, material, structure, form and space to discover the sense of wonder, rather than to orchestrate a spectacle? It’s likely that Kahn would have been as much a misfit today as he was in his own time.

the court of silence & light

There are numerous episodes from the story of Kahn’s development of the Salk Institute, including the disposal of a complete proposal of three hundred drawings. However, there are two moments which are poignant. One of the two marks the beginning: Jonas Salk’s insistence on a single courtyard for a campus full of fiercely territorial scientists; as though Kahn was reminded of his pursuit of singularity and the offering to the collective.

The campus as a whole relies on the central open space for spiritual sustenance. The study chambers and the spaces for chance gatherings on alternate floors are all plugged into this void – the space of surrender, on a plinth, open to the sea and the sky – asking in silence, “where has man come from, what is he doing, where is he headed.” Multiplied a thousand times for every individual present and passing through the court, the question brings men and women together to form a collective in surrender, in togetherness.

internal courtyards & corridors

The individual blocks – in this two-building campus – and each of their laboratory floors are nursed by smaller courtyards within, which penetrate the sub-terrain to release even the basement level.

The sanctity of the large central void is afforded by the accommodation of the profane by the smaller courts within each block

The open floor of the laboratory and the intermediate service and structure floor, each is mundane in what it accommodates, and profound in what it allows for

The apparent simplicity of the layout and the alternating rhythm of mass and void emerges from a complex process of organization: of spaces, program and aspirations

The severe austerity in choice and number of both elements and materials results in a rich embellishment, just as continual polish of stone makes it shimmer: a pensive process of bringing to light

Adhering to gravity with such devotion that it liberates: Kahn’s definition and proportioning of the massing allows one to float in and through the architecture

Severe discipline of geometry gives rise to an ornate edifice, made organic by a subtle play in choreography. Five towers of contemplation emerge from each block to meet the court. Not only is the fifth tower incomplete with only one column of study chambers, but the first column of chambers in every tower takes a step back, presenting its partner to a the ocean in a delicate duet

Kahn does not choose to exhibit the intellect in this highly intelligent system; rather, he bares it all down to the primordial – connecting to the emotion, the intuitive, to feeling, to wonder

Of course it is not necessary that Kahn attempted to incorporate, or even bother about these specific opposing dualities. Dialogue, however, is what he strived for – as an offering to another, or with himself through work. Dialogue requires expression and expression calls for difference – an interruption of the status quo. The essence being eternal, but asking for a unique sound to be heard, a new language to acquire a living meaning, and to be felt in order to be etched in memory.

edifices

The other poignant instance from the unfolding story of the Salk Institute marks a culmination of an inspiring process. Baragan was invited to the Salk Institute to offer his views on the landscaping of the plaza. He was precise in identifying the nature of the court and he advised Kahn against planting even a single tree in the void. What is of particularly greater significance here is the capacity of this tentative soul to make himself vulnerable. Kahn wanted to vegetate the plaza, but he knew that perhaps it may not be right, and he asked. The architectural process is not so much about surety as it is about dialogue and conversation. The space of ‘instant seminar’ (as Raje called them) in the towers of contemplation, with black-board walls are an ode to this indispensable aspect of all creative processes.