Michael A. Vuksta
Since we have already been to a place, the title of this section may seem belated. However, I wanted to reserve this section for my own explorations into design. Among other things, the architecture of Louis Kahn has been described as an architecture of ideas, of the unmeasurable, of spirit, and as taking place between silence and light. What is certain about Kahn’s process is that, besides the metaphysical concepts he employs, a number of images result in ordering “a society of rooms.” For example, the image which dominated the materials and organization of the Center for British Art was that of an English country house. The linen, the oak, and the arrangement of space into small viewing areas, are a result of adhering to this image. His buildings also evoke images. The Center has been described as looking like a moth on a cloudy day and like a butterfly when it is in full sunlight. The animism which characterizes his thought can be seen as manifest in his work. Other buildings have inspired other images and have required different conceptual categories emanating from the needs and activities of the program.
Further insight into this process can be obtained by reading Jules Prown’s book, or by visiting the Yale Library’s Manuscript and Archives Room. The library possesses a thorough documentation of the building’s history. There are photographs of the building at various stages of its construction, and even some original drawings, including the floor plans of an earlier scheme for the Center. There are photographs and reproductions of drawings and models of both projects. The Kahn Collection includes a thorough bibliography of his writings and critical writings by others on his work.
I refer to this process of change and flexibility in design as an introduction to my own experience of designing “a society of rooms.” As a requirement to this year’s participation, the Fellows had to design some architectural feature, to be added to their own homes, that would make a personal claim on the spaces they presently inhabit. Another criterion was that the design be considered realizable. My own choice meets this latter criterion in a way that is consistent with a statement made by Kahn. Not all of Kahn’s designs and projects were realized. This is true of many other architects as well. His thoughts about this read, “ . . . what is not built is not really lost. Once the value is established, their demand for presence is undeniable. They are just waiting for the right circumstances.” It is in this spirit that I set out on my own project.
Kahn’s work and process exhibit both passion and commitment. It is described by Romaldo Giurgola and Jaimini Mehta, in their book on the architect, “ . . . as a laborious, inexhaustible, and painstaking search for the identity for the rooms of which the building is made—identity with human issues—identity with himself as a person.” This desire for identity is inevitably intuitive. It is in keeping with similar goals that I set out on the design which appears in this essay.
Much like Kahn’s “teacher” and “student,” I did not know I was an architect. I just made some realizations, in the form of plans, drawings, models, and photographs. Only the drawings and plans can be reproduced here. I intend to make the others available to my students during the application of my unit.
I did not set out to imitate either Kahn’s thought process or any of his specific works. This is not to reject a debt of influence. I do not propose that my own efforts at design either resemble, or in any way, equal the accomplishments of so great a master of this art.
It is difficult to relate all of the thoughts and images that went into my design. The drawings and the notes to the drawings that appear at the end of this paper, will provide further understanding of my intentions.
There is no single image which dominates or directs the design. It is guided more by a multiplicity of images. One is that the rooms are to be visible from the center of the proposed courtyard. From this vantage point, one is to imagine a city or landscape pressed up against the masonry walls of the existing building. Against these stone planes, one can see volumes of different sizes and shapes. Although a group of them may be joined by a rising staircase, they do not all connect with each other. The rising line is visible rather than enclosed in an incongruous volume. In addition to these volumes, there are platforms, or plateaus, or mesas, open to the large space at the center.
Another image relates to the building’s inspiration and the formative act of its creation. The maker of this place is enclosed in the center of a claylike mass. Like the occupant of Plato’s cave, he has seen or imagined light. He has chosen to carve his way out of this mass toward the light. In this act he has created spaces to which he can return to after he has reached the outside. If one must choose an image from nature, one might select a geode rock, whose hard surface encloses a core of glasslike crystals.
The design is a renovation of a house built in 1857 and is presumed to have been derivative of the architect Henry Austin. No documentation exists which authenticates this fact, but many features suggest his influence.
As it stands, the building abuts another one on its southernmost elevation, thereby creating areas at the center which receive little or no light. The site does not provide for the inclusion of an exterior yard, although it does enfront a tree-lined park on its eastern side. This provides access to greenspace, but there is no private place for outside enjoyment.
The goals of the design are that it cooperate with and carry the intention and design of the past; that it satisfy present needs and employ newer technologies (primarily in its structural support system); and that it anticipate the future, in its gestures toward an energy-efficient design.
The design is still in process. What appears suggests certain definite solutions. The problems that have been solved thus far, have exposed other problems and other paths toward different solutions. Exploration and discovery continues. I would hope that the final solution would be humane and not wasteful. It should enliven the spaces as stages for the activities of people and it should be generous. It should be an important element in the fabric of the neighborhood it inhabits.
The major architectural feature is the inclusion of a glass-covered, enclosed courtyard which will provide a source of natural light and a private, semi-exterior room for its occupants. Since the creation of this courtyard and the design of its facade, an extension of this gesture toward the perimeter of the building has occurred. The new construction, proposed for the southwest corner of the building, projects this facade into the courtyard of the city block. It is both an introduction to and echo of the image that dominates the interior courtyard.
The entrances that are presently closed off to the street are reopened. All elevations which enfront the two streets that intersect at this corner property are now accessible. Circulation into and through the building is achieved in a variety of ways. This opening to the street is contrasted by the intimate possibilities of the enclosed court.
In an attempt to view the column of light created by the courtyard as a special object, floors are cutback from the interior surface of the courtyard facades. Views above and below each floor are acquired and expose the entire vertical dimension of the court.
In my design, the second-story, front porch has been removed to accent the vertical thrust of the tubular stacks, which in my drawings suggest an image of classical columns. The projection of the porch from the vertical plane detracts from the vertical thrust of these cylinders. Its removal relaxes this tension. The lower front porch is to be restored and a similar one is to be built at the rear entrance. A gesture toward the street adjacent to the north elevation is achieved.
The load of the courtyard facade and of the floors will be suspended from a steel frame. The prospects of applying active or passive solar energy are being investigated.