Lecture 34: Kahn

Question 1

What two deviations from the International Style in the Yale Art Gallery represent Kahn’s initial break with this
style?

Answer 1

1. change from steel to concrete

2. brings horizontality/layering back

Question 2

The occupiable exterior wall was a technique that evolved in the work of ________________

Answer 2

Kahn

Question 3

The “occupiable wall” is a major theme used by _________________

Answer 3

Kahn

Question 4

In describing the atrium of the Yale Museum of British Art, Larson pointed out a problem that has always plagued
architects. This was:

Answer 4

no corner column in the interior

Question 5

Kahn’s pyramidal waffle slab in the Yale Art Museum was inspired by ______________________

Answer 5

Bucky Fuller

Question 6

Kahn’s use of hollow structure is thought to have derived from what technique of his Beaux-Arts training?

Answer 6

poche

Question 7

“Let me tell you how I was made” describes whose approach to ornament? ____________________

Answer 7

Kahn

Question 8

What did Louis Kahn mean by “discovering the ‘form’ of a problem?”

Answer 8

distill down to the original form, and then design

Question 9

“Each space must be defined by its structure and the character of its natural light” is a quote by:
_____________________

Answer 9

Kahn

Question 10

Name the consensus choice by American architects as the best design in the US and its architect in each
category, as expressed in this course:

best building in America:__________________
best urban space:_____________________________
best site planning in a collection of buildings, employing portal, path, and place:_____________________

Answer 10

Best building: Salk Institute - Kahn
Best urban space: Rockefeller Center - Hood
Best site planning: Cranbrook - Saarinen

Question 11

Kahn’s concept of “served and servant spaces” which developed out of his early use of hollow structures is
thought by some historians to have been derived from what Beaux-Arts principle?

Answer 11

poche