Isaiah & Jaredd Kimbell Art Museum

Structure: "I" Shaped floor plan, constructed by bearing walls and a slight column grid. The columns separate programmatic spaces and create hallways to connect the spaces. 



Spatial Order: Kahn floats the lobby floor to create two basement spaces, that connect with a tunnel. The main basement space acts as a lecture hall. The two lobby spaces are interlocked with an outdoor threshold, visitors have the ability to move from one building to the next. The arch structures give the impression that your moving from spaces to space, which are the exact motions.
 
Program: The use of the an outdoor court yard, becomes a public space for transition & circulation. The underground levels that were designed, are useful for spaces that call for very light natural lighting.

System: The system of lighting within the museum illuminates the spaces and sets the mood. Most museums rely on artificial lighting to brighten rooms and put art work on display. Kahn designed this building to do the exact opposite, his cyclonic vaults with "narrow slits to the sky" allow natural lighting to enter and transform the spaces without harming the precious artwork.

Material (Tectonics): From the concrete soft gray colored cyclonic vaults, to the lead roof facing south. The Kimbell Art museum gives the essence of purity, community, and closure.

Detail (Structure); Natural light plays a vital role throughout the structures illumination. The form of the structure is capable of bearing its own weight. Khans vaults are placed along the topside of the structure by skylights in which require concrete struts, at 10 foot intervals would connect and establish connection to the egg shelled like form. Hydraulic jacks had been in use for he tightening of the steel cables to create a system of post tensioning. 


Detail (Material): The structure's materials are seen composed of simple forms and natural materials. The architect Khan had viewed concrete as both an aesthetic and structural choice. Reinforced concrete had been used to support the weight of the structure in the form of walls, piers and vaults. 

Detail (Context): The structure is based on certain rules, rules of logic, enabling the guest to easily follow along and being capable of reading the structure. 

Post Modernist Intentions: "No space, architecturally, is a space unless it has natural light" Khan emphasizes the use of natural light illuminating the structure as the main focus of the design. 

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