STEVEN HOLL

“I am interested in Architecture that speaks to the soul.”

ABOUT STEVEN HOLL
One of the best known and most influential architects and
theorists of the contemporary era, American architect
Steven Holl is known internationally for his numerous
projects built primarily in the United States and Asia.

He is an artist whose built work draws on contemporary

theories of phenomenology. Instead of imposing a style on
a site, he argued, the site itself should generate the
‘architectural idea’ applied to it.
● He believed that drawing is a
form of thought.
● A limited concept drives the
design, limited because every
project is different due to
different site and climate and
this need different concept.
● Natural light is a primary space
shaping material. It is a
psychological force that is
essential in architecture.
● The way spaces are made and
what they are made of, it is all
about how we experience DESIGN PHILOSOPHIES
architecture.
● Ecological innovation - from the
urban scale to small houses.
KIASMA MUSEUM OF
CONTEMPORARY
ART, IN HELSINKI
The concept of ‘chiasma’ ( part of a brain where the optic
nerve partially crosses) leads the planning of the museum
that was completed in 1998.

The building in fact consists of two intersected parts: one

is straight while the other one is curved.
Visitors enter the museum through a spacious lobby. The gallery spaces are characterized by the
architect as almost rectangular each containing one curved wall. This irregularity differentiates
each successive space creating a complex visual and spatial experience as visitors pass through
the museum galleries.
Staircase winding in different directions, curving
corridors and ramp lead the viewers to all five
floors of the building. The underlying design
principle was the idea of Zen-like peace coupled
with a human scale.
Light have played an important role in this
building. The shape and texture of the building
were designed with light in mind. The character of
natural light changes depending on the direction it
is coming from.
SIMMON HALL, MIT,
CAMBRIDGE
Holl reveals that he took inspiration from sea
sponge for designing the sleeping quarters for
the MIT students. According to him, the space
outside and inside the college dormitory has
stimulated the students interest.
Holl’s design solution was that the building would
metaphorically work as a sponge. Therefore he created a
porous structure that absorbs sunlight through a series of
large openings.

In his original drawings, Holl referred to these breaks as

the building’s lungs as they would bring natural light down
while circulating air up.

Unfortunately , the final design was not able to corporated

these gaps at the massive scale. But still he carried on his
concept through smaller breaks. The lungs scattered
throughout the building having large openings, solid voids.
The facade has a porous like structure which
has large openings that absorbs the natural
light. The personality and peculiarities of the
building lie in the play of solid and void.
Each residential room has 9 operable windows,
and an 18 inch wall depth allows low angled
winter sun to warm up the building and allow the
rooms to stay shaded and cool during the
summer month.
NELSON The threaded movement between the light
gathering lenses of the new addition weaves
ATKINS the new building with the landscape based on
MUSEUM the sensitive relation to its context.
OF ART, As visitors move through the new addition
KANSAS they will experience a flow between light, art,
architecture and landscape, with views from
CITY one level to another, from outside to inside.
The new addition extends along the
eastern edge of the campus, and is
distinguished by five glass lenses
traversing from the existing building
through the sculpture park to form
new spaces and angles of vision.
The first of the five lenses forms a bright and transparent lobby, with cafe, art library and bookstore inviting
the public into the museum.
The meandering paths threaded between the lenses in the sculpture park has its sinuous compliment in
the open flow through the continuous level of galleries below.
The design for the new addition utilizes sustainable building concept, the sculpture garden continues up
and over the gallery roofs, creating sculpture courts between the lenses.
The moons of the artwork are circular skylight The garage is generously proportioned, directly
dics in the bottom of the pool that project water connected to the new museum lobby on both
refracted light into the garage. levels and spanned with continuous undulating
vaults.
 SOME MORE WORKS OF STEVEN HOLL

HUNTERS POINT COMMUNITY LIBRARY KENNEDY CENTRE OF PERFORMING INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART
ARTS

LEWIS ARTS COMPLEX SARPHATISTRAAT OFFICES SLICED POROSITY BLOCK