zahteva prisotnosti: 
neuresničena dela louisa i. 
kahna 

demanding presence: 
the unbuilt works of 
louis i. kahn 

Fotografije: arhiv arhitekta / Photos: architect’s archive 

Robert McCarter je vsestranski arhitekt: projektant, 
profesor in avtor številnih knjig o arhitekturi. 
Trenutno predava na Univerzi Washington v St. 
Louisu, pred tem je predaval na floridski univerzi, 
bil je tudi asistent dekana in profesor na šoli za 
arhitekturo na Univerzi Columbia v New Yorku. 
Robert McCarter je velik poznavalec arhitekture 
Frank Lloyd Wrighta, o njem in njegovih projektih 
je napisal kar nekaj knjig. Leta 2003 pa je pri 
založbi Phaidon izšla njegova velika monografija 

o Louisu Kahnu. 
Foto: Andraž Kavčič 


Arhitektura gotovo spada med najbolj zahtevne 
discipline, saj mora loviti ravnotežje med nezdružljivimi 
zahtevami umetnosti in znanosti, hkrati 
pa je tudi najbolj javna od umetnosti ter za svojo 
uresničitev zahteva sodelovanje mnogih ljudi, 
čeprav pogosto izhaja iz poetične vizije posameznika. 
Temu navkljub pa je delež neuresničenih 
projektov med Kahnovimi deli nenavadno visok, 
neuresničenih je kar 150 od 230 projektov, njihova 
kakovost pa je presenetljiva. Če za trenutek 
pozabimo Kahnova zgrajena dela in se posvetimo 
le nezgrajenim projektom, njegov opus še vedno 
predstavlja enega največjih v arhitekturi 20. stoletja. 
Arhitekturni zgodovinarji, kritiki in dejavni arhitekti 
večinoma zanemarjajo neuresničena dela, 
saj si ne želijo ali pa ne znajo prepoznati njihovega 
teoretskega pomena, ustvarjalnega potenciala ali 
kritiške pomembnosti za razvoj določenega arhitekta. 
Opozarjam, da je to intelektualno in kulturno 
nesprejemljiva slepa pega zgodovine arhitekture, 
ki jo povzroča nezmožnost izobraževalnega 

robert mccarter 

Robert McCarter is a versatile architect: a designer, 
a professor, and the author of numerous 
books on architecture. Currently, he lectures at the 
Washington University in St. Louis; prior to that, he 
lectured at the University of Florida. He was also Assistant 
Dean and professor at the Columbia University 
School of Architecture in New York. 
Robert McCarter is an authority on architecture of 
Frank Lloyd Wright and wrote several books about 
him and his projects. In 2003, his in-depth monograph 
on Louis Kahn was published by Phaidon 
Press. 

Architecture is unquestionably among the most 
difficult of disciplines, balanced as it is between the 
incommensurable demands of art and science, and 
being the most public of acts, requiring the participation 
of many to realize, yet often originating in a 
single individual’s poetic vision. Even so, the number 
of unrealized designs among Louis I. Kahn’s total 
commissions is unusually high—150 unbuilt out of 
230 designs—and their quality is simply staggering. 
I would maintain that if we were to leave aside 
Kahn’s built works and evaluate only his unbuilt designs, 
these works would still constitute one of the 
most significant contributions to twentieth-century 
architecture. 
Architectural historians, critics and practitioners 
have generally tended to ignore unbuilt designs by 
architects, being unwilling or unable to recognize either 
their theoretical insights, generative potential, 
or critical importance in an architect’s development 
as a designer. It is my contention that the loss of our 
disciplinary history represented by the failure of educators, 
practitioners, critics and historians to study 


sistema, arhitektov samih, kritikov in zgodovinarjev, 
da bi raziskali in se učili iz ključnih del, ki so le 
zaradi neugodnih okoliščin ostala neuresničena. 
Teoretski uvid in gradbene zamisli utelešene v neuresničenih 
projektih, kot je na primer Le Corbusierjeva 
bolnišnica v Benetkah, mora arhitektura 
kot disciplina znova prepoznati. 
V svoji monografiji o Louisu Kahnu obravnavam 
dvanajst najpomembnejših neuresničenih projektov, 
za katere sem prepričan, da so enakovredni 
dvanajst zgrajenim, ki jih predstavljam v isti 
knjigi. Ob raziskovanju Kahnovih projektov v kronološkem 
zaporedju se pokaže, da je Kahn ravno 
v ključnih nezgrajenih, a le redko obravnavanih, 
delih razvijal temeljne zamisli reda, ki so kasneje 
postale temelj za njegova, slavna in pogosto 
obravnavana, zgrajena dela. Kahn je v neuresničenih 
projektih razvijal zamisli, ki so kasneje postale 
značilnosti njegovih del, na podoben način, 
kot so zgodnji, arhaični grški templji neobhodno 
potrebni za uresničitev tega, kar zdaj štejemo kot 
višek grške arhitekture, Partenon: 
»Ne verjamem, da je lepoto mogoče ustvariti zavestno. 
Lepota izhaja iz volje po biti, ki se je prvič 
izrazila v arhaičnem. Primerjajte tempelj v Paestumu 
s Partenonom. Arhaični Paestum je začetek. 
Je obdobje, v katerem so se razmaknili zidovi, nastali 
stebri in, ko Glasba vstopi v arhitekturo. Paestum 
je bil navdih za Partenon. Partenon se nam 
zdi lepši, toda meni je Paestum še bolj všeč, saj je 
začetek, ki vključuje vsa čudesa, ki mu sledijo.«1 
Tako niti ne preseneča, da je bil Kahnov odnos do 
lastnih nezgrajenih del prežet z mero optimizma: 
»Projekt, ki se ne zgradi, ni zares izgubljen. Potem 
ko se enkrat oceni njegovo vrednost, ne moremo 
več zanikati njegove zahteve po prisotnosti. Projekt 
pa le čaka na prave okoliščine.«2 
Z obravnavo Kahnovih najpomembnejših neuresničenih 
del, štirinajstih izmed 150, kar pomeni 
manj kot desetino njegovih neuresničenih naročil, 
in z razumevanjem pomena, ki ga imajo za sodobno 
arhitekturo, znova preučujemo Kahnovo 
vizijo arhitekture. V kratki predstavitvi štirinajstih 
projektov bom pokazal oblikovna vodila, ki jih je 
Kahn odkrival v vsakem od projektov in, kjer bo 
to mogoče, pokazal, pri katerem od kasnejših projektov 
jih je upošteval. 
Začenjamo s Središčem Judovske skupnosti 
(Jewish Community Center) v Trentonu, New 
Jersey, 195458. 
Kahn si je glavno zgradbo zamislil 
kot serijo drug na drugega naloženih in 
med seboj povezanih osemkotnikov, hkrati pa 
je naredil tudi projekt za kopališče v obliki križa, 
sestavljenega iz kockastih volumnov, ki so se med 
seboj prekrivali; ta del projekta so tudi zgradili. 
Kahn je konec leta 1955 svoje projekte pokazal 
dvema mladima članoma Univerze v Teksasu, Austin, 
Colinu Roweju, britanskemu arhitekturnemu 
zgodovinarju in kritiku, ki je študiral pri Rudolphu 
Wittkowerju, in Robertu Slutzkyu, ameriškemu 

and learn from these transformative works—unrealized 
only by chance and circumstance—is intellectually 
and culturally unsustainable. The insights 
and constructive concepts embodied in unbuilt designs 
such as Le Corbusier’s Venice Hospital must be 
re-engaged by the discipline of architecture. 
In my comprehensive monograph on Louis Kahn, I 
examine twelve major unbuilt works that I hold to 
be of equal importance as the twelve great built 
works I present. As becomes clear when examining 
Kahn’s architectural designs in chronological order, 
it was almost inevitably in these pivotal—but 
almost never studied—unbuilt projects that Kahn 
first evolved the fundamental ordering concepts 
that would later form the foundation for his famous—
and often studied—built works. For Kahn, 
these unbuilt designs established the principles that 
would later characterize his built works, in the same 
way that the earliest, archaic Greek temples are necessary 
for the realization of what we today consider 
the epitome of the architecture of that period, the 
Parthenon: 
“I do not believe that beauty can be deliberately created. 
Beauty evolves out of a will to be that has its 
first expression in the archaic. Compare Paestum 
with the Parthenon. Archaic Paestum is the beginning. 
It is the time when the walls parted and the 
columns became, and when Music entered architecture. 
Paestum inspired the Parthenon. The Parthenon 
is considered more beautiful, but Paestum 
is still more beautiful to me. It presents a beginning 
within which is contained all the wonder that may 
follow in its wake.”1 
Thus it is perhaps not so surprising to find that 
Kahn’s attitude towards his own unrealized designs 
was one of unfailing optimism: 
“That which is not built is not really lost. Once its 
value is established, its demand for presence is undeniable. 
It is merely waiting for the right circumstances.”
2 
By studying the most important of Kahn’s unbuilt 
designs—14 out of a total of 150, or less than one 
tenth of his unrealized commissions—and understanding 
the value they to hold for contemporary 
architecture, we may be able to re-engage Kahn’s vision 
of architecture as a new beginning in our time. 
In the brief presentation of these fourteen designs, I 
will indicate the ordering principles that Kahn discovered 
in each unrealized design, and, where appropriate, 
point to his later built works where these 
ordering principles are engaged. 
We begin with the Jewish Community Center in 
Trenton, New Jersey, of 1954-58. Kahn began the 
design of the main building by evolving a series of 
stacking and interlocking octagonal forms, even as 
the design of the bath house, which was built first, 
developed as a cruciform plan of overlapping square 
volumes. In late 1955, Kahn presented the designs 
to two young faculty members from the University 
of Texas, Austin, Colin Rowe, British architectural 


Idejni projekt glavne zgradbe, Center judovske skupnosti, 
3. 11. 1955. Na tlorisu so vidni osemkotni ‘služeni 
prostori’ in kvadratni ‘služni prostori’. Situacija je v levem 
spodnjem kotu. 

Preliminary plan of the main building, Jewish Community 
Center, 3 November 1955. The plan has octagonal ‘served 
spaces’ and square ‘servant spaces’. The site scheme appears 
as a diagram in the lower left corner. 

Maketa Centra judovske skupnosti, tretji projekt, 1956. 


Model of the Jewish Community Center, third scheme, 1956. 


Situacija Centra judovske skupnosti, 1. 7. 1957. Na tlorisu 
je vidno, gosto drevje, ki določa in zakriva zunanje 
prostore, zasajeno v pravilni mreži, kakor ga je predvidel 
Kahn. 

Site plan of the Jewish Community Center, 1 July 1957. The 
plan indicates Kahn’s extensive use of trees, planted in girded 
masses, to enclose and define exterior spaces. 


predavanje 

Perspektivna skica tipičnega interjerja: terapevtska kopel 
s slačilnico za moške, tretji projekt, 1956, Kahnova skica. 

Perspective sketch of typical interior space, therapy bath in 
men’s locker rooms, third scheme, 1956, drawing by Kahn. 


Pogled navzgor iz vhodne avle, Središče za britansko 
umetnost, Yale. 

View looking up from the entry court, Yale Centre for British 
Art. 


Maketa konzulata (levo) in ambasadorjeve rezidence 
(desno), Ambasada ZDA, Angola. 

Model of the Chancellery (left) and the Residence (right), US 
Consulate, Angola. 


slikarju, ki je študiral pri Josefu Albersu. Pripomnila 
sta, da je videti, da hoče Kahn zgradbo vzgojiti, 
kot bi bila nekaj organskega. Predlagala sta mu, 
naj se, glede prekrivajoče se strukture kopališča, 
zgleduje po tlorisih Andrea Palladia, pri načrtovanju 
prostorov pa po »sistemu niš«, kakor je to 
poimenoval Kahn. Kahn je za tem razvil dokončno 
shemo glavne zgradbe v vzorcu tartana, torej 
kot sistem manjšavečjamanjša 
niša, s skupinami 
trimetrskih stebrov, ki so obdajali 36 m2 velike 
glavne prostore, kar je pravzaprav prva artikulacija 
ene Kahnovih najpomembnejših arhitekturnih 
zamisli, koncepta služnega in služenega prostora. 
V projektu za Središče Judovske skupnosti iz leta 
1956, pa tudi pri kopališču, ki je bilo njegov del 
in, ki je bilo zgrajeno istega leta, je vsak od večjih, 
36 m2 velikih, služenih prostorov pokrit s 
piramidastim svetlobnikom z okulusom v sredini, 
obiskovalcem pa jasno predoči celotno strukturo 
prostora. V kopališču so v vseh štirih vogalih »votli 
stebri«, v katere so vstavljeni vhodi ali servisni 
prostori, kar pomeni, da je Kahn tu prvič izrecno 
izpeljal svojo zamisel služenih in služnih prostorov. 
Leta 1953 je Kahn napovedoval posledice, ki 
jih bo imel njegov mali projekt kopališča: »V gotiki 
so arhitekti gradili z masivnimi kamni, danes pa 
gradimo z votlimi.«3 
Pri projektu za Središče Judovske skupnosti s 
kopališčem bi strop in streha neposredno določala, 
kako doživljamo prostor. Rowe je v svojem 
eseju »'Neoklasicizem' in moderna arhitektura« 
iz leta 1957 zapisal, da projekt v Trentonu direktno 
nasprotuje modernistični definiciji »prostega 
tlorisa«, saj ga je določala mreža stebrov in plošča 
stropa. Rowe opaža, da je Kahn tu izpeljal v 
modernistični arhitekturi do tedaj najuspešnejšo 
uresničitev želje po vnovični uporabi stropne 
prostorske strukture, s prostorskimi celicami, 
strukturnimi nišami in horizontalnim strukturnim 
ritmom. 
Kahnov namen, ki se kaže pri vseh njegovih nadaljnjih 
projektih, izvira iz pogledov navzgor 
iz leta 1760, aksonometričnih prerezov, ki jih 
je Auguste Choisy leta 1899 objavil v Histoire 
d'architecture, učbeniku, iz katerega se je Kahn 
učil kot študent in ga na svojih knjižnih policah 
obdržal do konca življenja. V teh risbah je predstavljen 
način, kako se je arhitektura skozi čas 
ukvarjala z oblikovanjem notranjega prostora 
s pomočjo združevanja zidov in stropa – strehe, 
torej zgornje površine. Kahn je to lekcijo vseskozi 
nosil s seboj; kakor je pojasnil svojim študentom, 
je stopnja civilizacije določena z višino, obliko in 
strukturnim redom stropov – višji je strop in bolj 
je arhitekturno izoblikovan, civilizacijsko više je 
družba, ki prebiva spodaj. 
Na projektu v Trentonu je Kahn prišel še do enega 
zelo pomembnega odkritja – odkril je nov način 
ustvarjanja arhitekture, pri katerem oblika prostora 
in njegova gradbena struktura nastaneta 

historian and critic, trained by Rudolph Wittkower, 
and Robert Slutzky, American painter, trained by 
Josef Albers. The two told Kahn that it seemed he 
was trying to grow the building, as an organic entity, 
and they suggested that, based upon the overlapping 
grid of the bath house, Kahn should rather 
look at the plans of Andrea Palladio, and what Kahn 
called “the bay system” of room-making. Kahn went 
on the develop the definitive scheme for the main 
building based upon a tartan or small-large-small 
bay system, with 10-foot square column clusters 
that housed the service spaces surrounding 20-foot 
square primary functional spaces—the first articulation 
of one of Kahn’s most important concepts, 
servant and served space. 
In the 1956 design for the Community Center, as 
well as in the bath house which was finished that 
same year, each of the 20-foot square served spaces 
was covered by a pyramidal dome, topped by a central 
oculus, and the inhabitants would have been 
able to clearly perceive the structure with which the 
room was made. In the bath house, the “hollow columns” 
at the four corners held the services and entries, 
and are the first clear built example of Kahn’s 
servant and served conception. In 1953, Kahn had 
anticipated the implications of this little bath house 
design when he said; “In Gothic times, architects 
built with solid stones. Now we build with hollow 
stones.”3 
The Community Center and bath house’s powerful 
definition of the space and our experience of it by 
the roof and ceiling overhead, as Rowe noted in his 
1957 essay, “’Neo-Classicism’ and Modern Architecture,” 
went directly against the dominant definition 
of “free plan” space in the Modern movement, determined 
as it was by the flat slab and column grid. 
Rowe notes that with this design, Kahn presents the 
most definitive solution to date for the desire to reintroduce 
overhead spatial structure, with spatial 
cells, structural bays, and a horizontal structural 
rhythm, into Modern architecture. 
This intention of Kahn’s, which would characterize 
all his subsequent designs, originated in the 1760 
up-view, section-axonometric diagrams of Auguste 
Choisy’s Histoire d’architecture of 1899, the 
textbook Kahn studied as a student, and kept in his 
library throughout his life. These drawings present 
architecture from throughout time as being focused 
on the formation of interior space through the fusing 
of the walls and ceiling-roof—the overhead surface. 
This was a lesson Kahn carried with him throughout 
his career, as evidenced by his statement to his own 
students that the level of a civilization is registered 
in the height, shape, and structural order of its ceilings—
the taller and more structurally-shaped, the 
more cultivated the society they housed. 
Kahn made one further critically important discovery 
while working on the Trenton project, and that 
was a new way of making, where structure and 
space were formed together. In 1944, in his essay 

SLO 
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obenem. Že v svojem eseju »Monumentalnost« 
iz leta 1944, Kahn kritizira standardno jekleno 
konstrukcijo iz Inosilcev, 
saj naj ne bi bila kos 
eleganci strukturnega diagrama raznosa obtežbe. 
Napoveduje tudi tehnologijo prednapetih 
montažnih betonskih elementov, ki prostor hkrati 
strukturirajo in oblikujejo, ki se je takrat šele 
razvijala. Šele leta 1956, ko je delal na projektu 
v Trentonu, je prvič srečal gradbenega inženirja 
Augusta Komendanta. Kahn je svoje študente peljal 
na ogled Komendantove tovarne montažnih 
betonskih elementov in pri tem ugotovil, da je 
ravno to ključni material, s katerim lahko obenem 
oblikuješ bivalni prostor in uporabiš monolitne 
strukture. V končnem načrtu za Trenton in leta 
1958, Kahn predvidi piramidaste svetlobnike in 
dolge nosilne tramove kot vnaprej ulite betonske 
elemente, postavljene na betonske zidake, ter na 
mestu lite betonske stebre, med seboj povezane z 
nenosilnimi zidovi iz betonskih blokov. 
Kahn je prvič do konca izpeljal svoj nov način gradnje, 
ki je oblikovanje prostora združeval s strukturo, 
v svojem projektu za Stolpnico Zdravstvenih 
laboratorijev v Pennsylvaniji (Pennsylvania 
Medical Laboratory Towers), 195762, 
pri kateri 
je celoten strukturni okvir sestavljen iz vnaprej 
ulitih, prednapetih betonskih elementov. Tekom 
gradnje je Eero Saarinen vprašal Kahna, če gre za 
arhitekturni ali inženirski projekt, na kar je Kahn 
odgovoril, da je to zanj eno in isto. Kasneje v karieri 
se je Kahn spet vrnil k svoji zgodnejši zamisli 
polja piramidastih svetlobnikov, z osvetlitvijo od 
zgoraj, ki jih želel uporabiti v Trentonu; uporabil 
jih v projektu za zgornje nadstropje Središča za 
britansko umetnost Yale (Yale Center for British 
Art) med leti 196974, 
torej pri svojem zadnjem 
projektu, katerega gradnjo je še doživel. 
Pri projektu za Ambasado Združenih Držav v 
Angoli (United States Embassy in Angola), 195962, 
je Kahn najprej preučil, kako se prebivalci 
Luande ščitijo pred močnim in vročim soncem. 
Opazil je, da se prebivalci obrnejo s hrbtom proti 
močni direktni sončni svetlobi, ki prihaja skozi 
okna, ter raje delajo pri indirektni svetlobi, ki se 
odbija od zidov. Prepoznal je okoljsko inteligenco 
tradicionalnega angolskega sistema gradnje, ki 
z dvoplastno streho zagotavlja dobro prezračen 
prostor med spodnjo in zgornjo plastjo, omili vročino 
sonca in je manj spusti v notranjost hiše. 
Kahnovi načrti za Ambasado in za ambasadorjevo 
rezidenco so imeli dvojno plast zaščite pred sončno 
toploto in svetlobo – zgornjo, sončno streho, 
vzdignjeno nad dežno streho ter dvojne zidove: 
zunanjega, iz vnaprej ulitih betonskih elementov, 
ki je senčil notranje, zastekljene prostore. Porozna 
senčna streha, ki je delovala kot drevo, sestavljena 
iz pasov glinastih listov z malimi razmiki, je v 
polovici notranjosti hiše – torej v zgornjem delu, 
ki je bil odprt navzgor ustvarjala 
difuzno svetlobo, 
ki se le opoldne spremeni v tanke žarke 

“Monumentality,” Kahn had criticized standard I-
section steel construction as lacking the ability to 
conform to the elegant shapes of the structural 
stress diagram. At that time he anticipated the newly-
emerging construction technology of pre-cast 
concrete, pre-stressed and post-tensioned, could 
be capable of forming space and structure as an 
integrated design. Yet it was only in late 1956, during 
the time he was designing the Trenton project, 
that Kahn first met the structural engineer August 
Komendant. Kahn brought his students to visit 
Komendant’s concrete pre-casting plant, and he 
realized that this material held the key to simultaneously 
shaping inhabited space and monolithic 
structure. Kahn’s final design for the Trenton project, 
of 1958, employs precast concrete for the pyramidal 
domes and the folded-plate long-span beams, 
which are carried by concrete masonry bricks and 
cast-in-place columns, with large concrete masonry 
block non-bearing walls. 
Kahn first realized this new way of making that 
joined space and structure in his design for the University 
of Pennsylvania Medical Laboratory Towers 
of 1957-62, where the entire structural frame was 
built with precast, post-tensioned concrete. During 
the construction, Kahn was asked by Eero Saarinen 
whether this was an architectural or structural design, 
to which Kahn answered that, for him, they 
were one and the same. Late in life, Kahn returned 
to this early concept of a field of pyramidal, top-lit 
domes of the Trenton project in his design for the 
upper floor of the Yale Center for British Art of 196974, 
the last project Kahn saw built. 
In the design for the United States Embassy in 
Angola, of 1959-62, Kahn began with his observations 
regarding the way in which the inhabitants 
of the city of Luanda dealt with the intensely bright 
and hot sunlight. He noted that the residents turned 
away from the glare of the direct sunlight coming 
through the windows, and worked with the indirect 
light that bounced off the walls. He also recognized 
the environmental intelligence of the traditional 
Angolan construction system that provided a ventilated 
space between an upper and lower roof so as 
to allow the heat from the sunlight striking the roof 
to be exhausted and not be taken into the interior 
of the house. 
Kahn’s design for the Embassy and the Residence for 
the ambassador involved a system of double layers 
for protection from the heat and glare of the sun—a 
double roof of sun-roof above a rain-roof, and double 
walls of precast concrete sun-shields surrounding 
glazed volumes within. The porous, tree-like 
shade canopy of the roof, constructed of bands of 
clay tile “leaves” with a narrow slot between, would 
have characterized the experience of the half of the 
interior volume that was open to the roof with a diffused 
light punctuated by thin lines of direct light 
at noon. The even more porous sun-shield walls, 
articulated by semi-circular openings at their top, 

Računalniška rekonstrukcija pogleda na osrednje dvorišče 
skozi senčne zaslone Ambasada ZDA, Angola. 

Computer reconstruction of view through sun shields to 
central court, Chancellery, US Consulate, Angola. 


Izometrični prerez konzulata, pogled navzgor (zgoraj) 
in nazdol (spodaj). Na risbi je viden odnos med senčno 
streho in bivalnimi prostori; risba nastala pod nadzorom 
avtorja. 

Isometric cut-away section drawings of the Chancellery, 
up-view (above) and down view (below). The drawings 
show the relation of the sunshade roof to the inhabited 
spaces; drawn under author’s supervision. 

Glavno stopnišče zgradbe s predavalnicami, Indijski inštitut 
za menedžment. 

Main stair hall of a classroom building, Indian Institute of 
Management. 



predavanje 

Perspektivna risba čitalnice (desno) in jedilnice (sredina), 
Družabno središče, Salkov inštitut; Kahnova skica. 

Perspective sketch of reading rooms (right), and the dining 
rooms (centre), Meeting House, Salk Institute; drawing by 
Kahn. 


Maketa Družabnega središča, Salkov inštitut, pogled 
proti zahodu; maketa nastala pod nadzorom avtorja. Na 
maketi je viden drevored, ki služi kot vhodni trg. 

Model of the Meeting House, Salk Institute looking west; bu-
ilt under author’s supervision. This model shows the appro-
ach plaza with its line of trees. 


Zgodnja skica Družabnega središča, 1961; Kahnova skica. 
Arhitektura spominja na Dioklecijanovo palačo v Splitu, 
Hrvaška. 

Early sketch plan of the Meeting House, 1961; drawing 
by Kahn. The design is reminiscent of Roman emperor 
Diocletian’s Palace at Split, modern day Croatia. 


direktne svetlobe. Še bolj prepustni senčni zidovi, 
med seboj povezani s polkrožnimi odprtinami 
na vrhu, so stali 3 metre pred do tal zastekljeno 
steno, ki naj bi ščitila notranje hišne prostore in, 
skozi katero bi prebivalci lahko uživali uokvirjene 
poglede na pokrajino ter igro svetlobe in senc na 
svetlem dvorišču. Kahn je svojo najpomembnejšo 
zamisel za projekt povzel takole: »Okrog hiše sem 
želel oviti ruševine.«4 
Kahn je svoje prelomno odkritje, da lahko arhitekturne 
plasti hkrati zavarujejo hišo pred njenim 
okoljem in obogatijo izkustvo arhitekture v 
notranjosti, uresničil v projektu za Unitarijansko 
cerkev v Rochestru (Rochester Unitarian Church), 
195969, 
kjer je glavni oltar obkrožil s serijo učilnic, 
oblikovanih iz zgibanega zidu, ki hkrati daje 
senco okenskim odprtinam in ustvarja prijetne 
niše. Kahnovo zgodnje zavračanje mehanskih 
klimatskih naprav je sovpadalo z njegovo ugotovitvijo, 
da so lahko tudi zgradbe v vročem in vlažnem 
podnebju prijetne za prebivanje, če imajo 
zagotovljeno zadostno prezračevanje in so dovolj 
dobro osenčene. Kahna je ta ugotovitev pripeljala 
do projekta, kakršen je Indijski Inštitut za menedžment 
(Indian Institue of Managment), 196272, 
kjer so prostori za komunikacijo sicer pokriti, 
ampak odprti, tako da uporabnike ves čas hladijo 
prijetne sapice. 
Načrti za Družabno središče za Salkov inštitut 
bioloških znanosti (Meeting House of the Salk 
Institute for Biological Studies) v La Jolli, Kalifornija, 
195965, 
izhaja iz pobude Jonasa Salka, naročnika, 
da Kahn pripravi projekt za najmodernejše 
znanstvene laboratorije. Zraven naj bi zgradili 
tudi prostore, kamor bi Salk lahko povabil Picassa, 
da se sreča z njegovimi znanstveniki. Salk si je 
to zamislil, ker je bil prepričan, da se pomembni 
znanstveni preboji pogosto zgodijo, ko se znanstveniki 
soočajo z ljudmi, katerih razumevanje 
sveta in način presojanja reči sta popolnoma različna 
od znanstvenega. Prve perspektivne skice 
celotnega kompleksa Salkovega Inštituta kažejo, 
da je imel Kahn Družabno središče za daleč najpomembnejši 
element celotnega projekta, saj je 
narisana od blizu, v ospredju in najbližje morju, 
laboratoriji pa so dobesedno potisnjeni v ozadje. 
Tloris Družabnega središča je še eno Kahnovo 
arhitekturno odkritje. Zastavljen je kot skupek 
neodvisnih volumnov oziroma zgradb z lastno 
strukturo, ki so precej ohlapno zbrane okoli kvadratastega 
dvorišča. Pravilno kvadratno dvorišče 
z ohlapnim nepravilnim zunanjim robom za Kahna 
pomeni nov način kompozicije prostorov. Posamezni 
prostori so jasno čitljivi, hkrati pa obstaja 
tudi notranja prostorska struktura, ki jih razporedi 
okoli osrednjega dvorišča. Način, kako so samostojne 
sobezgradbe 
povezane med seboj s številnimi 
obširnimi prostori, namenjenimi obtoku 
ljudi in priložnostnim neuradnim srečanjem, ki so 
skoraj enako obsežni kot zaprti primarni prostori, 

standing ten feet in front of the full-height glazed 
walls of the enclosed spaces, through which the 
inhabitants would have seen both framed views of 
the landscape and the play of light and shadow in 
the light court, emerged from Kahn’s most important 
conceptual realization of the project; “I thought 
of wrapping ruins around buildings.”4 
This pivotal discovery of the ability of architectural 
layers to both temper the environment and enrich 
interior experience was realized in Kahn’s design 
for the Rochester Unitarian Church of 1959-69, 
where he surrounded the central sanctuary with a 
series of classrooms formed by a folding masonry 
wall that both shaded the window openings and 
provided habitable niches. Kahn’s early rejection of 
mechanical air-conditioning paralleled his realization 
that buildings in hot, humid climates could be 
made habitable through naturally ventilation and 
shading; a realization that led to Kahn’s designs for 
works such as the Indian Institute of Management 
of 1962-74, where the covered, open-air spaces of 
circulation allow the inhabitants to experience the 
prevailing breezes. 
The design for the Meeting House of the Salk 
Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, 
of 1959-65 was the result of the request by 
the client, Jonas Salk, that Kahn design the most 
advanced scientific laboratories as well as a place 
where Salk could invite Picasso to meet his scientists. 
This request arose from Salk’s understanding 
that breakthroughs in science often occur when scientists 
are confronted with someone possessing an 
entirely different worldview and way of evaluating 
things. The early perspective view of the entire Salk 
Institute complex clearly indicates that, for Kahn, 
the Meeting House, seen close in the foreground, at 
the edge of the ocean, was by far the most important 
element of the overall design, while the laboratories 
are seen in the distance, literally in the background 
of the Meeting House. 
The plan of the Meeting House presents another 
new discover for Kahn—the conception of the plan 
as an assembly of independent, self-structured volumes 
or buildings, rather loosely gathered around 
a square courtyard. With its square, regular centre 
and irregular outer edge, the plan represents a new 
way of composing spaces for Kahn, one that allows 
individual rooms to be read clearly while also 
establishing a sense of interior spatial structure ordered 
by the central courtyard. A second conceptual 
discover in this design is the way the independent 
room-buildings are joined together with an extensive 
set of spaces for circulation and informal 
meeting—what Kahn called “the architecture of 
connections”—which are equal in dimension to the 
enclosed primary rooms. Both these insights into 
plan-making were at least partly inspired by the 
full-size imaginary “reconstruction” of the Campus 
Martius section of ancient Rome, made by Giambattista 
Piranesi (born in the city of Piran) in 1762, 

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je drugo veliko konceptualno odkritje tega projekta 
Kahn 
ga je poimenoval »arhitektura povezav
«. Navdih za obe novosti v oblikovanju tlorisa 
vsaj deloma prihaja iz velike domišljijske »rekonstrukcije
« prereza Rimskega Campusa Martiusa, ki 
jo je Giambattista Piranesi (ki je bil rojen v Piranu) 
napravil leta 1762, Kahn pa jo je v svoji osebni pisarni 
obesil na zid nasproti delovne mize. Piranesijev 
tloris, sestavljen iz neskončne variacije skupin 
geometričnih oblik, je imel Kahn pred očmi, 
kadarkoli je vzdignil glavo od svojih načrtov. 
Ob Družabnem središču, na rob s pogledom na 
Pacifik, je Kahn namestil skupino valjastih betonskih 
senčil, ki so pred soncem ščitili do tal zastekljene, 
pravokotne čitalnice in serijo pravokotnih 
senčil, za katerimi so bile prav tako od stropa do 
tal zastekljene valjasto zaobljene jedilnice. Notranji 
zastekljeni prostori naj bi zakriti še z lesenimi 
naoknicami, ki bi ohranjale prijetno temperaturo 
znotraj, zunanji senčni zid pa naj bi bil iz na mestu 
litih betonskih elementov z vstavki iz travertina, 
ki bi simbolizirali častni status notranjih sob. 
Družabno središče je bilo vseskozi organizirano 
tako, da poudarja, naj se znanstveniki ukvarjajo 
s problemi, ki segajo dlje od njihovih laboratorijev: 
od dvorišča, odprtega proti nebu, ki deluje 
kot dvorišče kakšnega renesančnega Palazza, vse 
do zaobljenih zastekljenih jedilnic, spravljenih 
med pravokotne senčne zidove s svojim lastnim 
trgom, za katere je Kahn trdil, da ni boljšega prostora 
za pouk, kot je jedilnica. Kakor je povzel 
Kahn: »V osnovi je (Salkov Inštitut) sicer zgradba 
z laboratoriji, vendar pa ne smemo pozabiti, da je 
prostor za srečanja prav tako pomemben.«5 
Razporeditev med seboj neodvisnih sobzgradb 
okrog osrednjega, častno dominantnega primarnega 
volumna, ki ustvarja pravilno središče 
z nepravilnim robom, združitev strukturno neodvisnih 
volumnov v »arhitekturo povezav« ter zamisel 
prosto stoječih iz betona vlitih senčnikov, ki 
pred soncem ščitijo zastekljene prostore za njimi, 
so vse zamisli, ki jih je Kahn razvijal na projektu za 
Družabno središče. Uresničil pa jih je šele kasneje 
s projektom za Skupščino v Bangladeški prestolnici 
Dhaka (Assembly Building of the Bangladesh 
National Capital Dhaka) med leti 196274. 
Kahnov prvi projekt za Kemijski oddelek Univerze 
v Virginiji (University of Virginia Chemistry 
Building), 196063, 
kaže, kako pomemben je bil 
zanj Frank Lloyd Wright, čeprav se tega ponavadi 
ne poudarja. Tloris kemijskega oddelka je blizu 
Wrightovemu Unity Temple iz leta 1906. Kahnov 
končni načrt za Kemijski oddelek predvideva 
osrednje dvorišče s fakultetnimi pisarnami ob 
obeh daljših stranicah, kar je nekoliko podobno 
Salkovemu laboratoriju (Salk Laboratories), pa 
tudi prvotni zgradbi Univerze v Virginiji Thomasa 
Jeffersona. Vzdolž zunanjega roba tlorisa, zadaj 
za pisarnami, je Kahn postavil dva podolgovata 
volumna, v katerih naj bi se nahajali laboratoriji, 

which Kahn hung on the wall of his personal office 
in Philadelphia, directly across from his desk. Piranesi’s 
plan, composed of an endlessly varied series 
of clusters and assemblies of pure geometric forms, 
filled Kahn’s field of vision whenever he looked up 
from his own drawings. 
At the edge of the Meeting House overlooking the 
Pacific Ocean, Kahn placed a series of cylindrical 
concrete sun-shields housing cubic, full height 
glazed reading rooms for the library, as well as a 
series of rectangular concrete sun-shields housing 
cylindrical, full-height glazed dining rooms. The 
inner glazed rooms were to be given wooden shutters 
for control of the microclimate, and the outer 
sun-shield walls were to be built of cast-in-place 
concrete with travertine stone insets, denoting the 
honorific status of these rooms. From the courtyard, 
open to the sky and centring the building exactly 
like a Renaissance palazzo, to the cylindrical glazed 
dining rooms set within their square outer shell 
walls—of which Kahn said, there is no better seminar 
than a dining room—the Meeting House was 
organized to allow the scientists to engage larger 
issues outside their laboratories. As Kahn said; “Essentially 
(Salk Institute) is a laboratory building, but 
you must not forget that the place of meeting is of 
utmost importance.”5 
The ordering of independent room-buildings 
around a central, honorifically-dominant primary 
volume to form a regular centre and irregular outer 
edge; the joining together of these independent 
structural volumes with the “architecture of connections;” 
and the concept of free-standing, cast concrete 
sun-shields forming shaded spaces protecting 
glazed apertures within, all these concepts developed 
for the Meeting House would later be realized 
in Kahn’s Assembly Building of the Bangladesh National 
Capital at Dhaka of 1962-74. 
Kahn’s first design for the University of Virginia 
Chemistry Building of 1960-63 indicates the 
generally unacknowledged importance of Frank 
Lloyd Wright for Kahn, as the plan is very close to 
that of Wright’s 1906 Unity Temple. Kahn’s definitive 
scheme for the Chemistry Building proposed a 
central court with faculty offices lining both long 
sides—not unlike the Salk Laboratories, but also related 
to Thomas Jefferson’s original building of the 
University of Virginia. Along the outer edge of the 
plan, behind the faculty offices, Kahn placed two 
long laboratory volumes, the structure for which 
was an attempt to re-use the laboratory structure 
originally proposed for Salk Institute—a precast 
concrete folded plate structure that would house 
the services in its deep V-shaped ceiling, and allowing 
light to enter between the structural beams on 
the upper floor. 
This elegant folded plate structure, fully worked out 
for the Salk Laboratories by Komendant, was abandoned 
after the decision was made to not build the 
Meeting House. Kahn said he felt a terrible sense 

Pogled preko jezera na Narodno prestolnico Bangladeša; 
valjasta zgradba jedilnic z dvojnimi opečnimi stenami je 
v sredini, na desni pa so prenočišča. 

View across the lake to the Bangladesh National Capital; 
the cylindrical, double-shell brick dining halls are in the 
centre and the hostels are on the right. 


Tloris nezgrajene Zgradbe kemijske fakultete, Univerza 
v Virginiji, Charlottesville, Virginia, 196063 
(sever je na 
levi); končni tloris je nastal junija 1963. 

Ground plan of the unbuilt University of Virginia Chemistry 
Building, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1960-63 (north to left); 
this final scheme plan was drawn in June 1963. 


Aksonometrični prerez zgubane betonske plošče, iz katere 
naj bi nastala streha in tla zgradbe, Zgradba kemijske 
fakultete, Univerza v Virginiji, končni projekt, 15. 3. 
1963. 

Cut-away axonometric section of folded plate concrete 
roof and floor structure, University of Virginia Chemistry 
Building, final scheme, 15 March 1963. 


predavanje 

Pogled na Kimbellov muzej umetnosti z jugozahoda. Bazen 
in stebrišče vodita do dvorišča, s katerega je glavni 
vhod v muzej. 

View of the Kimbell art Museum from the south-west. With 
portico and pool leading to the entry court. 


Lesena maketa sinagoge Mikveh Israel, četrti in končni 
projekt, 19623. 


Wooden model of the Mikveh Israel Synagogue, fourth and 
definitive scheme, 1962-3. 


Tloris sinagoge Mikveh Israel, četrti in končni projekt, 
19623; 
risba nastala pod nadzorom avtorja. 

Plan of the Mikveh Israel Synagogue, fourth and definitive 
scheme, 1962-3, redrawn under author’s supervision. 


kjer Kahn skuša uporabiti podobno strukturo kot 
pri Salkovem Inštitutu – torej vnaprej vlita zapognjena 
betonska plošča, z instalacijami, skritimi v 
stropu Voblike, 
ki v zgradbo spusti svetlobo skozi 
razmike med podpornimi tramovi v zgornjem 
nadstropju. 
Elegantna zapognjena betonska plošča, ki jo je za 
Salka že izdelal Komendant v svoji tovarni, je postala 
odveč, potem ko so se odločili, da Družabnega 
središča ne zgradijo. Kahnu se je zdelo potratno 
zavreči to ploščo. Ko je postalo jasno, da je pri 
gradnji Salkovega inštituta ne bodo uporabili, je 
ploščo skušal uporabiti pri kakšnem od svojih naslednjih 
projektov, tudi pri Kemijskem oddelku. V 
končni fazi jo je spremenil v zaobljeno, galebjemu 
krilu podobno, školjkasto strešno konstrukcijo za 
Kimbellov Muzej (Kimbell Museum), 196672, 
kjer 
je uspel izpeljati tudi svojo zamisel, da bi svetloba 
v prostor vstopala na sredini oboka. 
Kahnovi projekti za neuresničeno Sinagogo Mikveh 
Israel (Mikveh Israel Synagogue), 196172, 
ki naj bi jo zgradili v Philadelphiji, v mestu, v katerem 
je prebival, so predvidevali svetišče, obkroženo 
z vrsto valjastih svetlobnih celic. V zgodnjih 
načrtih iz betona vlite svetlobne celice delujejo, 
kot da ob zunanjem robu zgradbe lebdijo nad 
tlemi, kar jasno kaže, da nimajo nobene nosilne 
vloge. To še poudarjajo žarki svetlobe, ki jih ločijo 
od polnih nosilnih zidov svetišča. Notranji zidovi 
svetlobnih celic imajo serijo obokanih odprtin z 
zaobljenimi robovi zgoraj in spodaj, nekakšnih 
»obrnjenih obokov«, ki kažejo, da ti loki niso nosilni, 
ampak da predstavljajo, kako je svetloba izdolbla 
njihovo notranjost, ter nas spominjajo na 
polkrožno pot sonca prek neba. 
Streha – strop Kahnovega projekta je skriti notranji 
okvir z zgornjim in spodnjim licem iz ulitega 
betona in je eliptična, tako v prerezu kot v tlorisu. 
V nasprotju s skoraj z vsemi ostalimi Kahnovimi 
verskimi objekti, a podobno kot v Le Corbusierjevi 
kapeli v Ronchampu, ki jo je Kahn prvič obiskal 
leta 1959, se v sinagogi Israel Mikveh strop približa 
tlem svetega prostora, svetloba pa nanj pada 
s stranskih valjastih svetlobnih celic. Svetlobne 
celice so morda najboljši primer tega, čemur sam 
pravim Kahnovi »zidovi, ki dajejo svetlobo«. Ker iz 
notranjosti uporabniki nimajo nobenega pogleda 
ven v višini oči in je svetloba, ki se odbija od zaobljenih 
sten v notranjosti, direktna in indirektna 
obenem, se zdi, da prihaja od vsepovsod, orientacije 
sonca pa ni mogoče določiti. Znotraj sinagoge 
uporabniki plavajo v morju svetlobe, ločeni od 
svojega običajnega okolja. 
Zamisel valjastih svetlobnih celic, ki varujejo in 
osvetljujejo notranjo dvorano, je Kahn uporabil 
pri gradnji Skupščine v Dhaki, 196274, 
še posebej 
v Dvorani za molitve (Prayer Hall), kjer štiri valjaste 
svetlobne celice osvetljujejo kockasti prostor. 
Podobna zamisel je vodila tudi oblikovanje 
pisarn, razporejenih okoli svetlobnega dvorišča, 

of loss when they could not employ this structural 
design at Salk, and he continued to endeavour to 
deploy it on subsequent projects, including the 
Chemistry Building, and it would ultimately evolve 
into the curved, gull-wing-shaped, cast concrete 
shell roof structure of the Kimbell Museum of 196672, 
where the initial idea of bringing light in at the 
centre of the vault would also be realized. 
Kahn’s unbuilt designs for the Mikveh Israel Synagogue, 
intended to be built in his hometown of 
Philadelphia of 1961-72, are all characterized by 
the sanctuary being formed by a series of cylindrical, 
light-filled chambers. In the early designs, 
these cast concrete light chambers seem to float 
above the ground at the outer edge of the building, 
clearly indicating their non-structural nature. 
This is emphasized by the slices of light that cut the 
cylindrical light chambers away from the structural 
solid side-walls of the sanctuary. On the inner walls 
of the cylindrical light chambers, Kahn designed a 
series of arched opening, with the curves at both 
top and bottom, “reversed arches” that suggest the 
non-structural nature of the arches, the erosion of 
the concrete shells by light, and the arc of the sun as 
it crosses the sky. 
The ceiling-roof of Kahn’s design proposed a structure 
that was elliptical in both plan and section, an 
internal, hidden truss with top and bottom faces of 
cast concrete. Similar to Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp 
Chapel, which Kahn had first visited in 1959, and 
contrary to almost all other religious structures, the 
ceiling comes down into the sacred space, catching 
the light from the cylindrical light chambers 
to the side. These cylindrical light chambers are 
perhaps the best examples of what I have called 
Kahn’s “light-giving walls.” Inside the Synagogue, 
the inhabitants would have had no eye-level views 
out, and the sunlight would have been both direct 
and bounced off the curving walls, seeming to come 
from all sides, so that solar orientation would become 
confused. In this space, the inhabitants would 
be detached from their surroundings, distanced 
from the outside world, floating in a sea of light. 
This conception of cylindrical light chambers, protecting 
and illuminating internal rooms, would be 
realized in Kahn’s design for the Assembly Building 
at Dhaka, of 1962-74, particularly in the Prayer Hall, 
where four cylindrical light chambers illuminate a 
cubic room. A similar conception is at work in the 
light courts around which the offices are arrayed, 
and the light chambers that occur in the hollow 
spaces of the structural buttresses of the assembly 
hall itself. 
The Levy Memorial Playground, developed from 
1961-66 and proposed to be built in Riverside Park 
in New York City, was designed by Kahn in association 
with the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu 
Noguchi. Noguchi introduced Kahn to the use of 
plasticine clay, which Kahn immediately adopted 
for his site models, and as a result all of Kahn’s later 

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ter same skupščinske dvorane s svetlobnimi celicami 
v votlih prostorih med nosilnimi tramovi. 
Igrišče Levy Memorial (Levy Memorial Playground), 
ki ga je Kahn skupaj z japonskoameriškim 
kiparjem Isamom Noguchijem, razvijal med leti 
196166, 
naj bi bilo postavljeno v parku Riverside 
Park v New Yorku. Noguchi je Kahnu pokazal 
plastelin, ki ga je Kahn takoj začel uporabljati za 
svoje makete. Pri vseh njegovih kasnejših projektih 
se to pokaže, saj Kahn v začetni fazi projekta 
veliko bolj poudarjeno označi prostor za gradnjo, 
uporabi močnejše temelje ali celo piedestal, ter 
zemljo vključitvi kot prvo dejanje gradnje. Kot 
povzetek njunih šestih let sodelovanja, ki niso bila 
niti najmanj enostavna, saj ju je stalno oviral Robert 
Moses, mestni urbanist, ki je načrtoval park 
in ceste, Kahn pravi: 
»Jaz nisem govoril o arhitekturi, Noguchi ni govoril 
o kiparstvu. Oba sva zgradbo čutila kot obris, ki 
ni le en sam, ampak je bolj poigravanje obrisov, ki 
so tako mehki in domači, da zgradbe ne opredelijo 
niti kot arhitekturo niti kot kiparstvo.«6 
Interama InterAmerican 
Community, Miami, 
Florida, 196369, 
je projekt za del velikega razstaviščnega 
prostora, ki je vključeval zgradbe 
mnogih vodilnih ameriških arhitektov. Kahn je 
predlagal vrsto samostojnih zgradbvolumnov, 
ki 
so obkrožali trikotni trg s pogledom preko zaliva 
na središče Miamija. Ob severni strani je bila nanizana 
vrsta »Hiš narodov« (»Houses of Nations«) s 
kulturnimi in razstavnimi prostori z naravnim prezračevanjem. 
Njihovi tlorisi so imeli obliko črke 
Y, tako da so na morski obali oblikovale majhna 
dvorišča. Na južnem delu je stala glavna zgradba 
z vkopanim osrednjim dvoriščem in polžastimi 
stopnicami, katere tloris in prerez sta temeljila na 
zamisli služnih in služenih prostorov. Posebej moramo 
opozoriti na prekrižane nosilne tramove, ki 
obkrožajo vrh glavnega prostora. Poleg tega, da 
nosijo streho in skrivajo prezračevalne odprtine, 
v osrednji prostor odbijajo svetlobo. Zamisel razčlenjenega 
uporabnega zidu, ki spodbuja naravno 
kroženje zraka, zgrajenega okoli javnega prostora, 
je bila uresničena v Kahnovem projektu za 
članski hotel in jedilnice v bangladeški prestolnici 
Dhaki, 196274. 
S projektom za Dominikanski samostan (Dominican 
Motherhouse), v mestu Media, Pennsylvania, 
196569 
Kahn skuša preoblikovati tradicionalni 
program in tip samostana. Prepričan je bil, 
da je samostanski tip primeren za stanovanjsko 
gradnjo in za mnoge druge programe, kar je na 
primer mogoče videti pri Salkovem inštitutu ali 
pri Indijskem inštitutu za menedžment (Indian institute 
of Managment), vendar pa je tokrat prvič 
imel priložnost zares projektirati samostan. V prvih 
skicah razvija tipično vrsto med seboj neodvisnih 
prostorovzgradb, 
potem pa pri oblikovanju 
tlorisa naredi logičen korak naprej, torej zgradbe 
med seboj loči in jih prosto prerazporedi. Nastali 

projects show a dramatically increased emphasis 
on the initial marking of the ground, on the making 
of an anchoring base or plinth for the building, 
and on the engagement of the earth as the first 
act of construction. In summarizing their six often 
frustrating years of collaborative work—when they 
were repeatedly blocked from realizing their designs 
by Robert Moses, the park and highway planner of 
the city—Kahn said: 
“I did not speak in terms of architecture. He did not 
speak in terms of sculpture. Both of us felt the building 
as a contour; not one contour but an interplay 
of contours so folding and harbouring as to make, 
by such a desire, no claim to architecture, no claim 
to sculpture.”6 
The Interama Inter-American Community, designed 
in 1963-69 for Miami, Florida, was part of a 
large exposition site involving buildings by many 
of the leading architects in the US. Kahn’s proposal 
was for a powerful series of independent building-
volumes which framed a triangular plaza with views 
across the bay to downtown Miami. A line of “Houses 
of Nations,” whose Y-shaped plans housed naturally-
ventilated exhibition and cultural spaces, marched 
along the western side of the site, forming small 
courtyards on the water’s edge. The main building, 
at the southern end of the site, with a central sunken 
court and pinwheeling stairs, employed servant and 
served spaces in both plan and section. Of particular 
note are the X-shaped structural beams that encircle 
the top of the main space, which, in addition to 
carrying the roof and housing ventilation ducts, also 
act to bounce the sunlight into the central room. The 
conception of an articulated, naturally-vented, inhabited 
masonry wall framing a public space would 
be realized in Kahn’s designs for the members’ hotels 
and dining halls at the Bangladesh National Capital 
in Dhaka of 1962-74. 
The Dominican Motherhouse, designed for Media, 
Pennsylvania in 1965-69, is a re-composition and 
transformation of both the traditional program and 
building type of the convent. As can be seen in the 
Salk Institute and the Indian Institute of Management, 
Kahn believed that the monastic plan was 
an appropriate type for use in housing many other 
programs, but this was his first chance to design 
an actual monastic enclave. In an early drawing, 
after developing his typical series of independent 
room-buildings, Kahn took the logical next step in 
this way of making plans, and cut them apart so as 
to be able to freely re-arrange them. The resulting 
plan has a regular outer edge, formed by the cells 
of the sisters, and an irregular centre, where Kahn 
has placed the common rooms such as the chapel, 
refectory, library, and schoolrooms in what would, 
in a traditional convent, have been the open courtyard. 
The result is a reversal of his own plan for the 
Salk Institute Meeting House, with its irregular outer 
edge and regular centre. The result is also an inversion 
of the traditional plan of the monastic type. 

Računalniška rekonstrukcija vhodne dvorane in svetišča, 
sinagoge Mikveh Israel, četrti in končni projekt, 19623. 


Computer reconstruction of the entry hall to the sanctua-
ry, Mikveh Israel Synagogue, fourth and definitive scheme, 
1962-3. 


Maketa igrišča Levy Memoral, park Riverside, New York, 
19615, 
Louis Kahn in Isamu Noguchi. 

Model of Levy memorial Playground, Riverside Park, New 
York, 1961-5, Louis Kahn and Isamu Noguchi. 


Tloris zgradbe razstavišča (levo) in ‘Hiš narodov’ za projekt 
‘Interama’, InterAmerican 
community, Miami, Florida, 
19639 
(sever na levi strani); risba nastala pod nadzorom 
avtorja. Projekt ni bil nikoli zgrajen. 

Plan of the main exhibition building (left) and ‘Houses of 
Nations’ for the ‘Interama’ project, Inter-American Community, 
Miami, Florida, 1963-9 (north to left); redrawn under 
author’s supervision. The project was never built. 


predavanje 

Prerez glavne zgradbe, projekt ‘Interama’. 

Section of the main building, ‘Interama’ project. 


Tloris Dominikanskega samostana, končni projekt, 1967; 
risba nastala pod nadzorom avtorja. Zasebni prostori 
ustvarijo pravokotno dvorišče, v katero so postavljeni 
javni prostori: šola (levo), vhodni stolp (spodaj), jedilnica 
(zgoraj) in kapela (desno). 

Ground floor of the Dominican Motherhouse, final scheme, 
1967; redrawn under author’s supervision. Private rooms 
create a rectangular courtyard into which are placed the 
public rooms – school (left), entry tower (below), refectory 
(above) and chapel (right). 

tloris ima pravilen zunanji rob, ki ga oblikujejo celice 
samostanskih sester, in nepravilno oblikovano 
središče, kamor je Kahn razmestil skupne prostore: 
kapelo, refektorij, knjižnico in učilnice, na 
mestu, kjer bi v tradicionalnem samostanu prostor 
za notranje dvorišče. Takšen izid je preobrat 
Kahnovega lastnega tlorisa za Družabno središče 
v Salkovem inštitutu, ki bi imela nepravilen zunanji 
rob in pravilno središče, pa tudi inverzija tradicionalnega 
samostanskega tipa gradnje. 
Kahnov predlog je bil, da ima Dominikanski samostan 
zidane nosilne zidove, nad okenskimi in 
vratnimi odprtinami pa so ploske, en zidak debele 
preklade. Preklade so v višjih nadstropjih vse daljše, 
zidovi med njimi pa vse krajši, kar naj bi predstavljalo 
manjšanje strukturne obtežitve. Gre za 
statično hierarhijo nosilnih zidov, način gradnje, 
ki ga je Kahn izpeljal pri gradnji Exeterske knjižnice 
(Exeter Library), 19651972. 
Zamisel tlorisa kot 
trka med seboj neodvisnih čistih volumnov pa je 
uresničena pri hiši Fisher (Fisher House) leta 1967. 
Poslovna stolpnica v Kansasu (Kansas City Office 
Tower), 196674 
je eden redkih Kahnovih poskusov 
projektiranja v tistem času dominantnega 
gradbenega tipa, poslovne stolpnice. Zdelo se mu 
je, da za stolpnice tipična jeklena konstrukcija ni 
dovolj masivna, Miesove in SOMove 
zgradbe pa 
je celo oklical za »gradnjo iz konzerv«. V Kansasu 
sta Kahn in Komendant predlagala štiriindvajset 
nadstropno stolpnico, zgrajeno s pomočjo tehnike 
drsečega opaža, kar je cenejši in hitrejši način 
gradnje od jeklene konstrukcije. Štirje dvojni stebri 
v kotih zgradbe bi nosili prednapeto strešno 
paličje, zgradba pa bi bila zgrajena od zgoraj navzdol 
s pomočjo sistema opažev, ki jih je mogoče 
večkrat uporabiti. Kahn je na strani zgradbe, ki je 
gledala na cesto, oblikoval manjše prostore, saj je 
bil prepričan, da bo tako stolpnica videti manjša 
in bolj primerna merilu mesta. Leta 1974 so SOM 
prepričali naročnika, da jim preda projekt, Kahn, 
ki pa za to odločitev ni vedel, je še nekaj časa delal 
na svojem projektu. Za Kahna je ta epizoda pomenila 
vzorčni primer »tega, kar je v našem poklicu 
narobe: je brez vsake etike.«7 
Kahnove skice za vrh kansaške poslovne stolpnice 
prikazujejo ljudi na vrhnji terasi nad streho iz 
parabolično ukrivljenega strešnega paličja. To 
idejo je prenesel na svoj kasnejši projekt za Kongresne 
palače v Benetkah. Zamisel, da bi stolpnico 
zgradil od zgoraj navzdol in obešal posamezne 
strope, je navdihnila številne druge arhitekte, če 
omenimo le enega med njimi: Norman Foster 
in njegova Šanghajska banka (Shanghai Bank) v 
Hong Kongu. 
Predlog za Spomenik šestim milijonom judovskih 
mučenikov (Memorial to Six Milion Jewish 
Martyrs) v New Yorku, 196672, 
je vrsta steklenih 
kock z robom 3 m, ki bi prepuščale svetlobo, hkrati 
pa metale svetlobne sence. Kahn je za spomenik 
nameraval uporabiti prepleteno strukturo iz 

Kahn proposed to build the Dominican Mother-
house with masonry bearing wall construction, 
using flat “jack” arches over the window and door 
openings, with openings becoming larger and the 
piers becoming smaller as it rises to reflect to diminishment 
of the structural loads. This method of constructing 
statically hierarchical load-bearing walls 
would be realized in Kahn’s design for the Exeter 
Library of 1965-72, while the conception of the plan 
as the collision of independent pure volumes would 
be realized in Kahn’s Fisher House of 1967. 
The Kansas City Office Tower of 1966-74 was one 
of Kahn’s very few attempts to come to terms with 
the dominant building type of his time, the high-
rise office tower. Kahn felt that typical steel-frame 
high-rise construction was not substantial enough, 
calling the buildings of Mies van der Rohe and SOM 
“tin-can construction.” For Kansas City, Kahn and 
Komendant proposed to build the 24-story tower 
using slip-form concrete construction, which would 
have been less expensive and required less time to 
build than steel construction. Four corner double 
columns would have supported a post-tensioned 
truss structure at the roof, and the building would 
have been constructed from the top down with reuseable 
formwork. Of particular note was Kahn’s 
provision of smaller scale spaces at the street edges 
to mitigate the large scale of the tower in the city. 
In 1974, SOM convinced the client to give them the 
project; Kahn, who was not informed of this decision 
for some time, continued to work on the design. For 
Kahn, this episode exemplified “what is wrong with 
our profession: no ethics.”7 
Kahn’s sketch drawing of the top of the Kansas City 
Office Tower, showing people on the roof-top terrace 
above the curving catenary roof truss, was 
transferred to his own later Palazzo dei Congressi 
project, which we will discuss in a moment. His concept 
of building a tower from the top down, and 
hanging the floors of an office building, would inspire 
a number of other architects—to name only 
one, the design by Norman Foster for the Hong Kong 
Shanghai Bank. 
The Memorial to Six Million Jewish Martyrs in 
New York of 1966-72, proposed a series of glass 
cubes, ten feet on a side, which would transmit 
light while also casting light-filled shadows. Kahn 
intended to build the Memorial using a woven 
structure of 6-inch by 6-inch by 6-feet long cast 
glass blocks, which would have been cloudy and 
finished with a non-reflective surface. The glass 
blocks would have been assembled without mortar, 
using interlocking pin-and-holes like the marble 
sections of the column of a Greek temple. In 
describing the quality of light he intended for this 
project, Kahn described the experience of the Pantheon 
in Rome; “The light is so strong as to feel its 
cut.”8 In this, Kahn seemed to suggest that he conceived 
of the cast glass a frozen or solidified light, 
which had been cut and shaped into masonry 

SLO 
ENG 



15x15 cm širokih in 1,5 m dolgih ulitih steklenih 
kvadrov, ki bi bili znotraj motni in tudi njihova površina 
bi bila matirana. Za gradnjo ne bi uporabili 
malte, ampak bi jih sestavili s pomočjo zatičev, na 
podoben način, kot so bili v grških templjih spojeni 
marmorni bloki stebrov. Ko je Kahn opisoval, 
kakšno svetlobo bi ustvarjal njegov spomenik, je 
opisal svoje doživetje rimskega Panteona: »Svetloba 
je tako močna, da lahko čutiš, kako reže.«8 
Videti je, kakor, da si je Kahn zamislil steklene oblike 
kot zamrznjeno ali okamnelo svetlobo, ki so jo 
razrezali v zidake. Spomenik v celoti je oblikovanje 
svetlobe, ki masivna in gosta proseva skozenj. 
Eden Kahnovih najbolj sijajnih neuresničenih projektov 
so načrti za Sinagogo Hurva (Hurva Synagogue), 
196774, 
ki bi jo zgradili v Jeruzalemu. 
Stala naj bi na griču nasproti Tempeljskega hriba, 
Kahn pa je bil zelo pozoren na to, da ne bi presegla 
višine pomembnih svetišč drugih dveh religij 

– islamske Kupole na skali in krščanske Bazilike 
Svetega groba, ki stojita na vrhu Tempeljskega 
hriba. Kahn je napravil natančen tloris in prerez 
situacije ter glinast model celotnega osrednjega 
dela starega Jeruzalema, da bi se prepričal, če je 
njegov projekt res primeren tudi v širšem kontekstu. 
Projekt je zelo introvertiran. Zunanji zid sinagoge 
sestavlja šestnajstih velikih pilonov iz Jeruzalemskega 
kamna – tistega iz katerega je bil prej zgrajen 
tudi zahodni zid Tempeljskega hriba – od katerega 
bi se odbijala sončna svetloba in vstopala 
v svetišče, ki bi žarelo v zlati svetlobi. V sinagogo 
bi se vstopalo v vogalih med piloni s patino, ob 
katerih se nahajajo manjše kapele, kar nekoliko 
spominja na egipčanske templje. V notranjosti štiri 
dežnikaste betonske strešne konstrukcije, votle 
in temne, določajo notranji prostor, vendar ga ne 
omejujejo. Med seboj se namreč ne stikajo, tako 
da sončna svetloba v svetišče vstopa skozi ozke 
reže med robovi nepravokotnih betonskih školjk 
strehe. 
Kahova zgradba združuje sodobno votlo ojačano 
betonsko konstrukcijo s starodavnim zidom 
iz masivnih zidakov. Spomni nas na vse, kar Kahnova 
arhitektura dolguje Le Corbusierju. Kahn je 
Le Corbusierja, tik preden je izvedel za njegovo 
smrt, opisal skorajda jasnovidno izjavo, ki o njem 
samem in njegovi lastni arhitekturi, pove skoraj 
toliko kot o Le Corbusierju: 
»V mojem razmišljanju o Le Corbusierju se združita 
groba neposrednost arhitekture gradov in glasbeno 
ritmična podoba grških templjev. Prepričan 
sem, da Le Corbusier, tudi v luči svojih čudovitih 
razkritij v arhitekturi, šele zdaj začenja s svojimi 
najboljšimi deli. Upal bi si zamisliti zgradbo, ki bi 
jo lahko zgradil Le Corbusier, velikansko zgradbo, 
v katero so od vrha do tal na različnih mestih vrezani 
različni prostori različnih oblik. Ne bi pozabil 
niti gradu niti reda templjev. Zgradba bi svetlobo 
prepuščala v vse prostore in v vse prehode, ki bi 
blocks. The whole design is a monument of light— 
massive, thick, translucent light. 
One of Kahn’s greatest unrealized works is his design 
for the Hurva Synagogue, proposed to be built in 
Jerusalem in 1967-74. Sited on the hill opposite the 
Temple Mount, Kahn carefully kept the height of his 
building no more than the two great religious sites 
of Islam, the Dome of the Rock, and Christianity, 
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which stand atop 
Temple Mount. Kahn painstakingly made a large 
site plan, site section, and clay model of the entire 
central portion of ancient Jerusalem, to assure that 
his design was appropriate to the larger context. 
The design is remarkably introverted, the outer 
wall composed of sixteen massive pylons made of 
Jerusalem stone—the same stones used to build 
the Western Wall of the Temple Mount—off of 
which the sunlight would have bounced to enter 
the sanctuary within, giving it a golden glow. One 
would have entered the Synagogue at the corners, 
between these battered pylons, remarkably similar 
to those on Egyptian temples, which housed small 
chapels at their bases. Inside, four massive, concrete 
umbrella-like roof structures, hollow, lightless, and 
dark, define but do not enclose the space of the 
sanctuary and its square and cruciform plan. The 
four umbrella-like roof structures would not have 
touched, and light would have entered the sanctuary 
through the thin slots between the edges of the 
bevelled concrete roof shells. 
This structure joins modern reinforced hollow concrete 
construction to ancient battered-wall masonry 
mass, and brings to mind Kahn’s debt to Le 
Corbusier, and the remarkably prescient statement 
Kahn wrote in 1965, shortly before learning of Le 
Corbusier’s death that same year, which is as much 
about Kahn’s own architecture as about anything Le 
Corbusier might design: 
“The stark architectural directness of the castle and 
the musically rhythmic image of the Greek temple 
combine in my mind a thought about Le Corbusier. 
I believe Le Corbusier, even in light of his marvellous 
revelations in architecture, is just beginning to create 
his greatest work. I dare to think of a building he 
might make, a great block of a building, which is cut 
into from top to bottom in varied places of varied 
shapes, neither forgetting the castle, nor the order 
of the temple, giving light to spaces and passages 
on the immediate interior and leading to a glorious 
central and single space, the walls and their light 
left in faceted planes, the shapes the record of their 
making, intermingled with the serenity of light from 
above.”9 
At the time of Kahn’s death in 1974, Jerusalem 
mayor Teddy Kolleck had just written to Kahn of his 
eagerness to start the building of the Hurva Synagogue. 
The concept of the umbrella-like concrete 
roof shells, an idea Kahn had been interested in 
since he visited Wright’s Johnson Wax Building in 
1959, were realized in a very different form in the 

Perspektivna risba Poslovne stolpnice Kansas City, Missouri, 
196674 
med gradnjo, ki poteka od zgoraj navzdol; 
Kahnova skica. 

Perspective drawing of Kansas City Office Tower, Missouri, 
1966-74, under construction being built from the top down; 
sketch by Kahn. 


Pogled na Poslovno stolpnico Kansas City z ulice Baltimore 
Street. 

Baltimore Street view of the Kansas City Office Tower. 



predavanje 


Tloris Spomenika šestim milijonom judovskih mučenikov, 
na katerem je vidnih sedem stebrov z vhodi na 
sredini, končni projekt, spomladi 1968; risba nastala pod 
nadzorom avtorja. 

Plan of the Memorial to Six Million Jewish Martyrs showing 
seven piers with central entries, final scheme, spring 1968; 
redrawn under author’s supervision. 

Računalniška rekonstrukcija Spomenika šestim milijonom 
judovskih mučenikov z newyorškim pristaniščem (New 
York Harbor) v ozadju, končni projekt, spomladi 1968. 

Computer reconstruction of the Memorial to Six Million Je-
wish Martyrs with New York Harbor beyond, final scheme, 
spring 1968. 


Maketa popisanega osrednjega votlega steklenega stebra 
s kapelo iz pleksi stekla, Spomenik šestim milijonom 
judovskih mučenikov, končni projekt, spomladi 1968. 

Plexiglas model of the hollow glass central chapel pier with 
inscriptions, Memorial to Six Million Jewish Martyrs, final 
scheme, spring 1968. 


vodili v veličastni osrednji prostor, v katerem bi 
zidovi odbijali svetlobo od mnogih malih površin, 
oblike in zapis njihove stvaritve pa bi se prepletale 
s čistostjo svetlobe od zgoraj.«9 
Ko je Kahn leta 1974 umrl, mu je jeruzalemski 
župan Teddy Kolleck ravno pisal pismo, da komaj 
čaka na začetek gradnje Sinagoge Hurva. Zamisel 
dežnikastih strešnih školjk je bila ideja, s katero se 
je Kahn spogledoval že, odkar je leta 1959 obiskal 
Wrightovo Hišo JohnsonWax 
(JohnsonWax 
Building), 
na precej drugačen način pa jo je uresničil 
v projektu za tovarno OlivettiUnderwood, 
pri kateri 
je sodeloval z mladim Renzom Pianom. Piano 
trenutno pripravlja projekte za prizidek h Kahnovem 
Kimbellovem muzeju. 
Projekt za Kongresno palačo (Palazzo dei Congressi) 
v Benetkah, 196874, 
je Kahn začel z glinasto 
maketo mesta, na kateri se je jasno dalo 
prebrati le tri od znamenitosti: Markov trg, Le 
Corbusierjevo bolnišnico (ki je bila v tistem času 
še vedno predvidena za gradnjo) in njegovo lastno 
Kongresno palačo v Giardinih. Kahn je v 
Giardinih, ki so bujno zasajeni z drevjem, predlagal 
vzdignjeno kongresno dvorano, pod katero 
bi bili umetniški ateljeji. Zaobljena tla dvignjene 
kongresne dvorane je navdihnila Kahnova študija 
skledastega trga Campo v Sieni, kar kaže široki 
most, ki se iz dvorane spušča, ne pa se vanjo dvigne, 
kot je to v navadi v Benetkah. Tla dvorane bi 
bila iz betonske plošče v obliki parabolične krivulje, 
skoraj natančno takšne, kot jo je predlagal za 
vrh poslovne stolpnice v Kansasu. 
Čeprav je mesto samo predlagalo, da bi Kongresno 
palačo postavili v razstavišče beneškega bienala 
Giardine, je bil projekt na tej lokaciji zavrnjen, 
Kahna pa so prosili, če lahko projekte prilagodi za 
novo lokacijo – Arsenale, nekdanjo ladjedelnico 
v lasti mesta. Kahn je tu predlagal, da bi se kongresna 
dvorana raztezala prek enega od kanalov, 
kar je zamisli viseče dvorane dalo več smisla. Na 
strehi zgradbe nad tremi malimi kupolami je 
Kahn predlagal vzdignjen vrt in razgledno teraso. 
Skupaj z notranjostjo kongresne dvorane, ki jo je 
razumel kot mosttrg, 
je Kahn sledil misli svojega 
prijatelja Alda van Eycka, ki trdi, da ko ljudje obiščejo 
vrh griča, so odprti za pogled daleč, ko pa se 
zberejo v dolini, kot je na primer notranjost zaobljene 
kongresne dvorane, pa se ozrejo navznoter 
drug proti drugemu in se zberejo v prostoru. 
V času, ko je Kahn delal na projektih za Kongresno 
palačo, so ga povabili, da pripravi predavanje 
na strehi Doževe palače, kjer si je lahko do blizu 
ogledal strehe Markove bazilike. Ker je tu streha 
zaobljenih oblik zdržala več kot tisoč let, se je 
prepričal, da je gotovo primerna tudi za sodobne 
zgradbe. Sodeč po Kahnovih zapiskih o velikosti 
plošč in načinu montaže, je Kahn uporabil 
isti material in način montaže zaobljene strehe 
kot pri Kimbellovem Muzeju. Kongresna palača v 
Benetkah je prvi od njegovih poznih projektov, v 

Olivetti-Underwood Factory of 1966-70, on which 
the young Italian architect Renzo Piano worked 
with Kahn. Piano is now designing the addition to 
Kahn’s Kimbell Museum. 
The Palazzo dei Congressi, designed for Venice, 
Italy in 1968-74, began with Kahn’s clay site model 
of the city of Venice, with only three monuments 
clearly legible: the Piazza San Marco, Le Corbusier’s 
Hospital (which was still intended to be constructed 
at that time), and Kahn’s Palazzo dei Congressi on 
the Biennale Giardini site. In the heavily treed Giardini 
site, Kahn proposed an elevated congress hall 
and an artists’ workshop on the ground. The curving 
floor of the elevated congress hall was inspired by 
Kahn’s studies in 1950 of the bowl-shaped Campo 
in Siena, as well as suggesting a large bridge, hanging 
down rather than rising up as those in Venice. 
The floor structure of the congress hall was to be a 
post-tensioned cast concrete slab in the form of a 
catenary curve, almost exactly as he first proposed 
it in his sketches for the top of the Kansas City Office 
Tower. 
The Biennale Giardini site, proposed by the city, was 
rejected, and the city asked Kahn to redesign the 
Palazzo dei Congressi for a site in the city-owned 
Arsenale, the former ship-building precinct of the 
Venetian empire. Here Kahn was able to propose 
that the Palazzo dei Congressi span across a canal, 
giving the conception of the suspended congress 
hall a much clearer rationale. On the roof of the 
building, above the three smaller domed halls, Kahn 
proposed an elevated garden and viewing terrace. 
Together with the interior of congress hall, understood 
as a piazza-bridge, the roof terrace engaged 
Kahn’s friend Aldo van Eyck’s insight when people 
occupy hilltops, they face outwards to the distant 
view, while when people occupy valleys, such as the 
curving congress hall, they face inwards towards 
each other, and are gathered together in the space. 
During the time Kahn worked on the Palazzo dei 
Congressi, he was invited to give a lecture on the 
roof of the Doge’s Palace, where he was able to observe 
at close hand the lead roofing of San Marco 
Basilica. Noting that this roof had lasted a thousand 
years on these curving forms, Kahn said he felt it was 
certainly appropriate for use on a contemporary 
building. Based upon his notes as to sheet size and 
installation methods, Kahn used the same material 
and methods of installation on the curving roofs 
of his Kimbell Museum. The Palazzo dei Congressi 
was also the first late design where Kahn proposed, 
rather than deeply recessed glazing, a flush-glazed 
façade and a stainless steel skin, both of which he 
would later employ on his Yale Center for British Art. 
The design for the Graduate Theological Union 
Library in Berkeley, California, of 1971-74, intended 
to house the world’s largest collection of books 
on religion, was in many ways a return to Kahn’s 
1956 design for the Washington University Library, 
a pyramid for books, but in this case also housing 

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katerih je, namesto nazaj pomaknjene zasteklitve, 
predlagal okna v isti ravnini z oblogo iz nerjavečega 
jekla, kar je kasneje uporabil tudi v projektu za 
Središče za britansko umetnost, Yale (Yale Center 
for British Art). 
Projekt za Knjižnico Teološke zveze za podiplomske 
študente (Graduate Theological Union 
Library) v Berkeleyu, Kalifornija, 197174, 
v kateri 
naj bi bila spravljena največja svetovna zbirka 
knjig s področja religije, je v mnogih pogledih 
povratek h Kahnovemu projektu za Knjižnico 
washingtonske univerze (Washington University 
Library), piramidi za knjige, vendar pa ima tudi 
osrednji vertikalni prostor, kakor v Exeterski knjižnici 
(Exeter Library). Kahn je tokrat prvič predvidel, 
da bi bile okenske odprtine zasenčene z 
zunanjo vrsto dreves, »zelenim filtrom«, ki bi vrt 
naredil za del zgradbe. Gre za zelo pozen Kahnov 
projekt, ki je, potem ko je Kahn umrl, ostal v zelo 
zgodnji fazi. Zgradbo so lokalni arhitekti precej 
spremenili in dokončali med leti 197778. 
Dokončana zgradba, kar se tiče volumnov, sicer 
sledi izvornim projektom, vendar pa niso upoštevali 
skoraj nobene druge Kahnove zamisli. Rezultat 
je najbolje mogoče opisati kot karikaturo Kahna. 
V svoji monografiji o Kahnu sem sicer vztrajal, 
da moramo knjižnico, kljub popačenosti, šteti kot 
zadnje Kahnovo zgrajeno delo, vendar pa sem se 
po nedavnem obisku prepričal, da to nikakor ne 
drži. Najbolje bi bilo, da Kahnova nezgrajena dela 
ostanejo nezgrajena, razen če bi se jih gradilo točno 
po njegovih načrtih. 
Spomenik Franklinu Delanu Rooseveltu (Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt Memorial), 197374, 
naj bi 
stal na južnem rtu otoka Roosevelt Island na reki 
East River v New Yorku, na kraju, ki se ga vidi iz 
zgradbe Združenih narodov (United Nations Building). 
Za Kahna projekt pomeni vrnitev k začetkom, 
saj je svojo kariero začel z gradnjo stanovanj 
za Rooseveltov New Deal in do leta 1945 projektiral 
več kot 2500 hiš in stanovanj, financiranih 
s strani vladnih programov. Kakor je zapisal neki 
naročnik: »Kahn je ljubil Roosevelta in o njem vedel 
veliko več od nas.«10 Kahn je kmalu imel jasno 
zamisel za spomenik: 
»Zamislil sem si, da bi spomenik moral imeti sobo 
in vrt … Vrt je bolj oseben, je osebni način nadzora 
narave, zbiranje narave. Soba pa je začetek 
arhitekture.«11 
Vhod v spomenik je na severni strani skozi dolg, 
navzdol nagnjen perspektivni vrt, ki bi se zdel 
daljši, kot bi bil v resnici. Na drugi strani je soba 
brez strehe s pogledom na reko na jugu, zgrajena 
iz masivnega kamna. Kahn je predvidel dva Rooseveltova 
kipa: stoječo figuro naravne velikosti, ki 
bi jo srečali zunaj sobe, in večjo figuro Roosevelta 
na vozičku, ki bi jo srečali, ko bi vstopili v sobo. 
5,5 m2 velika soba je arhaičen prostor s 3,5 m in 
1,5 m debelimi zidovi iz polnih granitnih blokov, 
tako da je hkrati mestu primerno monumentalna, 

an Exeter Library-like central vertical space. Kahn 
proposed here for the first time that the apertures 
of the building would be shaded by rows of trees— 
a “green filter” that incorporates a garden into the 
building. This late design had only reached a very 
preliminary stage when Kahn died, and the building 
was later realized, in a significantly modified form, 
by local architects from 1977-87. 
While the resulting building follows Kahn’s design in 
general massing, almost none of his specific ideas 
from the preliminary design were employed, and 
the result may best be described as a caricature of 
Kahn’s design. While in my monograph on Kahn, 
I held that, even in its modified form, the library 
should be considered Kahn’s last built work, having 
recently revisited the building, I have now come 
to the opposite conclusion, and feel it is best that 
Kahn’s unbuilt designs remain so unless they can be 
realized exactly as he left them. 
This brings us to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
Memorial, proposed for the southern point of Roosevelt 
Island in the East River of New York in 1973


74. Its site is within view of the United Nations Building. 
This project represented a return to beginnings 
for Kahn, who had begun his career as a housing 
architect for Roosevelt’s New Deal, designing more 
than 2500 houses and apartments for government-
sponsored projects by 1945. As the client noted; 
“Kahn loved Roosevelt and knew much more about 
him than most of us.”10 Kahn’s conception for this 
memorial came early and clearly: 
“I had this thought that a memorial should be a 
room and a garden… The garden is somehow a 
personal nature, a personal kind of control of nature, 
a gathering of nature. And the room is the beginning 
of architecture.”11 
The site is entered from the north end, where we 
would move through a long, downward-sloping, 
perspectival garden, appearing longer than it in fact 
is. At the other end is a roofless room set out into the 
river, made of massive stones, opening to the south. 
Kahn proposed two statues of Roosevelt, a life-
sized standing figure we would encounter outside 
the stone room, and a larger-than-life-sized figure 
of Roosevelt sitting in a wheelchair we would encounter 
upon entering the stone room. The 60-foot 
square room is a truly archaic space, with twelve-
foot tall walls that are six feet thick, made of solid 
granite blocks—the room at once both monumental, 
scaled to the city, and intimate, scaled to the human 
figure standing at the centre of the river. 
After Kahn’s death in 1974, the Roosevelt Memorial 
design, like all of Kahn’s unbuilt projects, was 
abandoned. Yet Kahn’s design of the room and the 
garden was completed through construction documents—
ready to be built—and fundraising efforts 
continued for more than a decade. In the 1980’s, 
the basic work of grading the island point was accomplished 
before funding as exhausted. Then, 
one year ago, construction began again in earnest 
Pogled (zgoraj) in vzdolžni prerez (spodaj), Palazzo dei 
Congressi, drugi in dokončni projekt, lociran v Arsenalu, 
1972. Zgradba naj bi bila obešena preko kanala Canale 
delle Galeazze, na zahodni strani lagune arzenala; risba 
nastala pod nadzorom avtorja. 

Elevation (above) and longitudinal section (below), Palazzo 
dei Congressi, second and definitive scheme, Arsenale site, 
1972. The building was to be suspended over Canale delle 
Galeazze, on the western side of the Arsenale lagoon; redrawn 
under author’s supervision. 


Računalniška rekonstrukcija pogleda po stranskih 'ulicah' 
glavne kongresne dvorane s sedeži na desni, Palazzo 
dei Congressi, drugi in končni projekt, lociran v Arsenalu, 
1972. 

Computer reconstruction showing the view down the side 
‘streets’ of the main congress hall with the seating to the 
right, Palazzo dei Congressi, second and definitive scheme, 
Arsenale site, 1972. 


predavanje 

Maketa Knjižnice teološke zveze za podiplomske študente, 
Berkley, Kalifornija, 19714, 
pogled s severozahoda. 

Model of the Graduate Theological Union Library, Berkley, 
California, 1971-4, viewed from the north-west. 


Tloris zgornjega nadstropja Knjižnice teološke zveze za 
podiplomske študente (sever je na levi strani). 

Upper level floor plan, Graduate Theological Union Library 
(north to left). 


Maketa sinagoge Hurva, ki prikazuje ozek vhod med piloni 
na vogalih; prvi in končni projekt, 19679. 


Model of the Hurva Synagogue showing narrow corner 
entry between pylons, first and definitive scheme, 1967-9. 

vendar pa tudi intimna, narejena po meri človeka, 
ki se nahaja na sredini reke. 
Po Kahnovi smrti leta 1974 so projekte za Rooseveltov 
spomenik opustili, tako kot tudi vse ostale 
njegove nedograjene projekte. Načrti za spomenik 
so popolnoma zaključeni in imajo vso potrebno 
projektno dokumentacijo za izvedbo. Več kot 
desetletje se je skušalo zbrati denar za začetek 
gradnje. V osemdesetih so pripravili teren na koncu 
rta, potem pa je denarja spet zmanjkalo. Pred 
letom dni se je gradnja začela znova, posadili so 
drevesa ob obali otoka in ulili temelje za sobo. Kakor 
se je o projektu izrazil že Kahn »ne moremo 
več zanikati njegove zahteve po prisotnosti. Čaka 
le na prave okoliščine.« 

Opombe 

1 
Louis I. Kahn, citat iz Alexandra Tyng, Beginnings: Louis I. Kahn’s 
Philosophy of Architecture (New York: Wiley, 1984), p.108. 

2 
Louis I. Kahn, citat iz John Lobell, Between Silence and Light 
(Boston: Shambala, 1979), 84; v Romaldo Giurgola in Jaimini 
Mehta, Louis I. Kahn (Boulder: Westview Press, 1975), p.183. 

3 Loius I. Kahn, Alessandra Latour, Louis I. Kahn: Writings, Lectures, 
Interviews (New York: Rizzoli, 1991), p.45. 
4 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., p.123. 
5 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., p.108. 
6 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., p.205. 
7 Louis I. Kahn, citat iz August Komendant, 18 Years with the Architect 
Louis I. Kahn (Englewood: Aloray, 1975), p.103. 
8 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., p.227. 
9 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., p.205. 

10 Theodore Liebman, citat iz Paul Goldberger, “Design by Kahn 
Picked for Roosevelt Memorial Here,” The New York Times (25. 
april 1974). 

11 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., p.321. 

on the Memorial, with test trees being planted on 
the edges of the island and the foundations of the 
room being cast. The Memorial is now expected to 
be completed in the next several years, beginning 
with the room. As Kahn said, the design’s “demand 
for presence is undeniable. It is merely waiting for 
the right circumstances.” 

Endnotes 

1 
Louis I. Kahn, quoted in Alexandra Tyng, Beginnings: Louis I. 
Kahn’s Philosophy of Architecture (New York: Wiley, 1984), 108. 

2 
Louis I. Kahn, quoted in John Lobell, Between Silence and 
Light (Boston: Shambala, 1979), 84; and Romaldo Giurgola and 
Jaimini Mehta, Louis I. Kahn (Boulder: Westview Press, 1975), 

183. 
3 Louis I. Kahn, Alessandra Latour, Louis I. Kahn: Writings, Lectures, 
Interviews (New York: Rizzoli, 1991), 45. 
4 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., 123. 
5 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., 108. 
6 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., 205. 
7 Louis I. Kahn, quoted in August Komendant, 18 Years with the 

Architect Louis I. Kahn (Englewood: Aloray, 1975), 103. 
8 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., 227. 
9 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., 205. 
10 Theodore Liebman, quoted in Paul Goldberger, “Design by 

Kahn Picked for Roosevelt Memorial Here,”The New York Times 
(25 April 1974). 
11 Louis I. Kahn, Latour, op. cit., 321. 

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Računalniška rekonstrukcija perspektivnega prereza, sinagoga 
Hurva, prvi in končni projekt, 19679. 


Computer reconstruction of perspective section, Hurva 
Synagogue, first and definitive scheme, 1967-9. 


Tloris sinagoge Hurva, ki prikazuje kapeli in mezzanin v 
zgornjem nadstropju (na levi) in vhod s svetiščem v pritličju 
(na desni), prvi in končni projekt, 19679; 
risba nastala 
pod nadzorom avtorja. 

Plans of the Hurva Synagogue, showing the chapel and 
mezzanine on the upper floor (left), and the entry and sanctuary 
on the ground floor (right), first and definitive scheme, 
1967-9; redrawn under author’s supervision. 

Maketa spomenika F. D. Rooseveltu, končni projekt, druga 
faza, spomladi 1974; pogled v prostor na koncu vhodnega 
vrta s sedečim kipom Roosevelta. 

Model of the F. D. Roosevelt Memorial, final scheme, second 
phase, spring 1974; view into the room with the seated sta-
tue at the end of the approach garden. 


Perspektivna risba Rooseveltovega spomenika z dvema 
skupinama štirih stebrov znotraj sobe in silhueto Manhattana 
v ozadju, končni projekt, prva faza, poleti 1973. 

Perspective drawing of the F. D. Roosevelt Memorial, final 
scheme, fist phase, summer 1973, with two sets of four columns 
in the room and the Manhattan skyline beyond. 


Prerez panorame Jeruzalema s prerezi sinagoge Hurva 
(na levi), Zahodnega zidu (na sredini desno) in Tempeljskega 
hriba (na desni), v daljavi lahko vidimo Kupolo na 
skali; prvi in končni projekt, 19679. 


Fig. 32: Section through Jerusalem with the section trough 
the center of the Hurva Synagogue (left), the Western Wall 
(center right) and Temple Mount (right); The Dome of the 
Rock can be seen in the distance, first and definitive scheme, 
1967-9. 

Tloris Rooseveltovega spomenika, končni projekt, prva 
faza, poleti 1973. 

Plan of the Roosevelt memorial, final scheme, first phase, 
summer 1973. 


Maketa prereza, Palazzo dei Congressi, prvi projekt, lociran 
v Giardinih, 1969. 

Model of elevation, Palazzo dei Congressi, first scheme, Gi-
ardini publici site, 1969.