Salk Institute

1959-65 Salk Institute

La Jolla, California Louis I. Kahn

Anna Drescher and Renate Paris

View from the courtyard to the ocean: the fifth faรงade

Introduction The Salk Institute, located in La Jolla, California, sits on seaside cliffs approximately 350 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Louis Kahn worked closely with Dr. Jonas Salk to create a building complex that evokes discourse and collaboration essential to a thriving research facility. The research facility was built just four years after Salk successfully created a Polio vaccination. With generous funding, Salk began to dream up a research lab on the edge of the North American coastline, seeking to privilege the human dimension within the facility.

The focus of the research following is regarding the “powerful hollow between the blocks: that void lined with concrete, paved with travertine, and roofed 7 by the changing skies,” in other words, the courtyard which talks about the human scale but also affects the human psychology. However, in order to talk about the power of the void, we must first acknowledge the presence and brilliance of its surroundings, because only then will one understand the monumentality of this façade to the sky.

Louis Kahn and Jonas Salk Doctor Jonas Salk, was a research strategist, who changed the world by discovering the Polio vaccine on the 12th of April, 1955. Salk, being at the forefront of Medical Research, received many donations to fulfill his vision of

a research facility where people would come to innovate without limits, to dream and imagine, to change the world. Salk wanted “a facility that would both support scientific research and foster the exchange of ideas between scientist and cultural leaders.” 7 In 1960, the citizens of San Diego donated 27-acres of Torrey Pines Mesa to contribute to Salk’s dream of a world-renowned research facility. Jonas Salk also received twenty million dollars from the March of Dimes. Having the land and the money to start the Salk Institute, Salk personally visited Louis Kahn’s office to seek advice in picking an architect for the project. Kahn gave Salk a tour of the Richards Laboratories; Salk thought the project interesting but was not so impressed by it. However, during this visit, Salk was so fascinated by Kahn’s intellectual thinking and his method to architecture that he commissioned Kahn for the design of the institute.

Salk wanted an open, shared environment to maintain world-class science, with large, continuously flexible laboratories and a design that encouraged collaboration. The edifice needed to be adjustable to the ever-changing necessities of science, and the research laboratories were to meet the scientists’ practical, humanistic, and visual needs. Salk also wanted Kahn to think of resilient and modest materials that would endure the tests of time, without being expensive to maintain.

Being that Salk’s philosophy was that both scientific method and artistic practice depended on creativity and each could profit from the other, Salk had one last request of Kahn, he wanted to be able “to invite Picasso to the laboratory." This challenge was accepted by Kahn who responded by producing an award-winning and groundbreaking piece of architecture, as substantial as the science within its walls.

Salk also expressed his love for the thirteenth century Monastery of St Francis in the Italian town of Assisi, without knowing that Kahn had a special interest in that particular piece of architecture as well. Salk predominantly enjoyed the intimate cloister the monastery centered around, which Salk felt was a space where one could contemplate on life’s greater questions. Kahn’s

interest in Assisi’s monastery was the way buildings interacted with each other; one of his sketches from his visit depicts two masses approaching on the intangible. It seems both Salk and Kahn already had common ideas for the design of this research institute.

Kahn’s Architecture, institutionalized Kahn’s design for the Salk Institute is principally two mirror-image rectangular buildings, each six stories tall. The travertine marble paved court separates the two structures. The Salk Institute was Kahn’s first thorough vision of architecture, one that answers to the entire human being. In seeking to understand the human interaction between facilities and the effects on human interaction, Louis Kahn focused on three things: open communal spaces, served vs. service spaces, and the psychological effect on the participant.

Model of Salk Institute, six floor building with three for research and three for service space

At the Salk Institute, the open courtyard becomes a measure for human scale within the project. Sitting on a hillside, the visitor’s size becomes reduced when seen against the ocean backdrop. If one stands at the beginning of the water channel and looks at someone walking at the end of the same water channel, one can see that this person’s head aligns perfectly with the horizon line. This speaks tremendously on the perfection of the scale for the human. As well as the courtyard becomes a space of silence and reflection; the open walkways become places of meeting. Within the passageways, a researcher becomes aware of a greater process, the one of researching methodology. The walkways become facilitators for the discourse between the scientists to allow for an open mind philosophy within the institute.

The distinction between monumental and open form is evident through the large concrete building forms becoming the bracing between the ephemeral (courtyard) and the monumental (research labs.) Kahn overcame several of the issues from the Richards Medical Towers in the design of the Salk Institute. For instance, the open-flowing research floors are larger and more flexible as opposed to the laboratory spaces at Richards Towers. They create a platform for discourse and generate a more knowledgeable facility for researchers by allowing for the uninterrupted flow of people. At Richards Medical Towers, the dusty ducts were exposed in the laboratory space. Kahn fixes that problem at the Salk Institute by having enclosed spaces just for the service areas. Monumental oversized service floors create accessibility into the services of the institute, allowing visitors to experience the usually hidden side of research facilities such as this one.

Light and scale become participatory with the form and the occupant: using the channels created between research labs, Kahn was able to create a series of spaces that would encourage and inspire the researchers to collaborate and use their surrounding environment as a source of inspiration or serenity.

At the Yale University Art Gallery, Kahn thought of natural light as having a psychological effect of bringing people back to the reality that there is a

natural world outside of the man-made building. Throughout the building, Kahn controls surfaces to allow natural light in. Coming back to the Salk Institute, the same reasoning is perhaps the purpose for Kahn’s decision to create light wells at either end of the building to bring natural light to the two floors underground.

Mirror-image of the institute buildings embracing the courtyard

Integration of Systems and Materials Per the request of Jonas Salk, the institute was planned to last for several generations with very little maintenance, and to be flexible to the changes and advances of science and technology. For these reasons, Kahn’s integration of systems and materials was crucial to the design of this research institute. The integration that Kahn achieved in the structural, mechanical, electrical, acoustical, and lighting systems with a presence in a research facility is used to inform visitors of the make of their facility. “The progression is body, mind, society, spirit; the attributes of the whole human body. A great building must serve each of these well, and be a means of integrating them.� 4

Material use at the Salk Institute

In order to abide by the request of low maintenance materials, Kahn chose to use concrete, teak, lead glass, and A242 steel. As Kahn is known to do, he looked into the past to Roman times, and rediscovered the water-resistant abilities of the warm rosy “pozzolonic� concrete. He used poured-in-place concrete, which was meant to set naturally, with no finishing such as grinding, filling, or painting. Kahn also chose to emphasize the joints between the form panels and also the holes left by the snapped-off form ties.

He wanted the concrete to have that unfinished aspect and to be a first bold impression on visitors. To protect the studies from the sun, he chose to use teak screens. The teak was to have no sealer or stain so that it would weather with time into a natural gray. The steel chosen was also left natural to avoid additional weathering by producing a compact adherent oxide. The outer walls of the laboratory levels were selected to be double-strength crystal glass in order to bring light in and meet the needs of the researchers.

These four materials became the flesh of the research facilities, being used to embrace the travertine courtyard.

Kahn always pays as much attention to the service spaces as he does to the served spaces, which is why it comes as no surprise that at the Salk Institute he allows them the same privilege, creating equality to the buildings’ function. By alternating laboratories and service floors, Kahn succeeds in keeping the laboratories completely uncluttered and at the same time integrating structural, mechanical, and electrical systems. The service floors contain all the electric lines, ventilation ducts, and piping systems, but also the Vierendeel trusses. Each service space contains thirteen trusses that measure nine feet deep and sixty five feet wide. These trusses offer the support for the laboratory floor overhead and the lift for the ceiling underneath. This structure makes it possible for the lab spaces to be unobstructed by columns and load-bearing walls. This strategy also permits researchers to re-organize their laboratory space as scientific needs alter and technologies evolve.

Section of the research facility: equal height research floors and service floors

In the design of the Salk Institute, Louis Kahn recollected “the richness of the forms and materials of the great historical architectures,” 4 and organized them between the ground and skies in order to tell us things about ourselves we would otherwise not recognize. When standing in the courtyard, with the mirrored buildings on either side of you, you cannot help but to question the greater things in life; which is precisely what Salk envisioned.

Louis Barragan and the Evolution of the Courtyard Though the Salk Institute was greatly underway by 1964, one element of the design was still in process, the courtyard. Word of this project spread to Louis Barragan in Mexico, who admired Kahn’s prior work. Barragan, known for his lush gardens alongside his vibrant architecture, invited Kahn to Mexico. After visiting Barragan in Mexico, Kahn was inspired by the strategically placed plant life to create an exotic and lively area to experience. Kahn envisioned a lush garden courtyard at the research institute. Creating a garden courtyard would be a departure from his typical

open and barren courtyards. Upon his return to the United States of America he began sketching the courtyard filled with foliage, inspired by Barragan’s work.

Kahn’s preliminary sketches for the courtyard at the Salk Institute

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Jonas Salk believed that design was holistic, alike his philosophy on science.

Therefore, the design for the Salk Institute was open to the discretion of Kahn and his team. The design team and Salk both believed that scientists did not work well in isolation. Various iterations of the courtyard divided the space into smaller courtyards with foliage. Salk did not want multiple courtyards to be constructed to prevent any one space from being privileged.

"One garden is greater than two because it becomes a place in relation to the laboratories and their studies. Two gardens were just a convenience. But one is really a place; you put meaning in it; you feel loyalty to it." 7 Over a year passed and Kahn invited Barragan to visit the site and discuss his plans for the courtyard. The two mirror-imaged concrete buildings were already built; once Barragan arrived on site he decided the fate of the courtyard:

“When he (Barragan) entered the space he went to the concrete walls and touched them and expressed his love for them, and then he said as he looked across the space and towards the sea, 'I would not put a tree or blade of grass in this space. This should be a plaza of stone, not a garden.' I (Kahn) looked at Dr. Salk and he at me and we both felt this was deeply right.

Feeling our approval, he added joyously, if you make this a plaza, you will gain a façade a facade to the sky.” 7

Barragan’s sketch of the travertine courtyard overlooking the La Jolla cliff

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With the idea of the additional façade, or fifth façade, the ocean became a prominent feature in the institute. The horizon line off of the existing cliff allows for a measure of human scale against the expanse of the institute.

Using the courtyard and the architecture to frame the horizon allowed Kahn to privilege the scientist in this space as well. While in the courtyard, one is always inherently aware of the human scale in relation to the architecture and the horizon. To connect the sea beyond to the institute, Kahn envisioned a large channel of water down the center of the courtyard that would become

the soul of the sea on the horizon.

By creating an open, flat and directional courtyard Kahn was able to achieve the vision of Jonas Salk by privileging the scientist (or human) at every scale and moment in the project. Though one may feel dwarfed while in the expansive courtyard; one is always reminded of their importance within the project, whether it is moving through the first floor’s concrete colonnade or against the horizon backdrop of the ocean beyond.

Synthesis of Science and its Architecture The collaboration between Jonas Salk and Louis Kahn molded a unique design for a monumental research center. Focused on the impact of architecture on research capabilities, Salk and Kahn created a facility that would inspire and host for future years of changing medical advancement.

Knowing the effect a facility has on researchers and their studies, Salk requested a facility that would maximize and thrive on collaboration. Large open spaces and ample lighting of each research building allowed researchers to always engage with others regarding their research and findings.

While Kahn manipulated the served and service spaces of the research buildings one area was left to question, the courtyard. While the research facility mirror-image buildings bracketed this large courtyard, Kahn could not envision what the courtyard would become in the next few years. The impact of Barragan’s influence on Kahn can be witnessed in the grand courtyard overlooking the ocean. The open courtyard became the epitome of the project, a space where the human was always privileged. Kahn used materials, light, and scale in order to create an institutional architecture within which the occupant becomes a participant toward the monumentality of the research facilities philosophy.

“The scientist, snugly isolated from all other mentalities, needed more than anything the presence of the immeasurable, which is the realm of the artist.”

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3

James , Kathleen. "Louis Kahn's Institute of Management's Courtyard: Form versus Function." Journal of Architectural Education (1984-). 49.1 (1995): 38-49. Print.

4

Lobell, John, and Louis I. Kahn. Between Silence and Light: Spirit in the Architecture of Louis I. Kahn. Boulder: Shambhala, 1979. Print.

5

Steele, James. Salk Institute: Louis I Kahn. London: Phaidon, 1993. Print.

6

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7

Treib, Marc. "The End a Continent: The Courtyard of the Salk Institute."

Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. no. 3 (2006): 402-427.