Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute

When great minds meet, you either see a comedy show of flying egos or genuine poetry.  The latter should be used to describe such an occasion when Jonas Salk met Louis Kahn.  At the time Salk asked Kahn to design a research laboratory “worthy of a visit by Picasso.”

What stands now is a place where art and science meet in an atmosphere of reflection, collaboration, and discovery.  The Salk Institute serves as one of the greatest achievements in architecture, science, and the often fragile client/architect relationship.

Early in our vacation last week, we booked a tour at the Salk Institute.  This visit was every bit as enlightening as my trip to the Kimbell Art Museum.  Thus, I wanted to share with you many of the photographs I took.

The private offices are located along the plaza with their corners angled out, so the lucky individuals have a glimpse of the ocean.  Teak wood is used for the infill.

There are beautiful arcades on each floor along the plaza.  At left, below grade; bottom right, at grade, top right, above grade.

Like many of Kahn’s buildings, the stairs are exquisite.  The open, plaza stairs are concrete with travertine treads.  On the top right is the profile of the extruded steel handrail, and at the bottom right is a slit opening which can be seen in the background of the picture on the bottom left.

The service cores are located on the exterior perimeter of the facility, between which are light wells to the courtyards below.  The dark slots in the image at the left illustrate the full height mechanical floor between laboratory floors.

Both of these images are from inside the mechanical floor.  At left, you can see the Vierendeel truss allowing the passage of all MEP equipment.  At right, you can see that the researchers are also using the floor to store equipment and experiment material.

At the base of the plaza is an outdoor dining area.

This is also the termination point of the stream of water running down the middle of the plaza.

Perhaps most impressive, at the patio, are the single block travertine chairs.

On the order of being a piece of architecture that is “worth of Picasso,” I think it succeeds for two reasons.  There is a sculptural quality to most of the building as exhibited in the stair on the left.  As for the other, near-monolithic quality provides an inviting canvas for the play of light and shadow, as depicted by the image on the left.

Although, it doesn’t hurt that the Salk Institute is located in La Jolla, California and feels like an oceanside resort.