SALK INSTITUTE IN LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

L PROJECT : SALK INSTITUTE IN LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA MATERIALS :

THE HIGHLY CONTROLLED SHUTTERING OF CONCRETE ON SITE
PROJECT : LOUIS KAHN CREATES A SLEEK SURFACE MODULATION THAT SOMETIMES
I SITE AREA : 27-ACRE (11 HA)
OVERLAP WITH TEAK WOOD PANELS, GIVING SCALE TO THE
COURTYARD AND A MONUMENTAL SENSE OF GRANDEUR TO THE
ENTIRE COMPLEX.
T GROUND COVERAGE : 20% THE FACADES ARE MADE OF CONCRETE POURED, AND IT IS MORE
FLEXIBLE AND MORE RESISTANT TO EARTHQUAKES. IT ALSO

E TOTAL STUDENTS: 3600 STUDENTS

LOCATION: 10010 N TORREY PINES RD, LA JOLLA, CA 92037, UNITED

POZZOLANA AND LAVENDER IS A COLOR, A HUE THAT ROSEA AT
DUSK AND DAWN. TO PREVENT CRACKS THAT COULD FORM IN
THE CONCRETE DURING CURING BECAUSE OF THE DRY CLIMATE

R STATES OF CALIFORNIA, KAHN DESIGNED SOME SPECIAL FORMWORK TO

INTRODUCTION:
A THE SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES IS AN INDEPENDENT,
NON-PROFIT, SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE LOCATED IN LA
MITIGATE THIS PROBLEM. IN THE TEXTURE OF THE CONCRETE IS
WELL APPRECIATED THAT MARKS THE FORMS ARE ALMOST
INTACT, WHICH GIVES AN IDEA OF THE QUALITY OF THE MATERIAL.

JOLLA, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES. IT WAS FOUNDED IN

T 1960 BY JONAS SALK, THE DEVELOPER OF THE POLIO VACCINE; AMONG
THE FOUNDING CONSULTANTS WERE JACOB BRONOWSKI AND FRANCIS
1.
2.
3.
BOYS HOSTEL
GIRLS HOSTEL
RESEARCH BLOCK
CRICK. BUILDING DID NOT START UNTIL SPRING OF 1962. IN 2004, THE
U TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT RANKED SALK AS THE WORLD'S
TOP BIOMEDICINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE.
4.
5.
6.
OPEN GROUND
FOOTWALL COURT
PARKING

R THE CAMPUS WAS DESIGNED BY LOUIS KAHN. SALK HAD SOUGHT TO

MAKE A BEAUTIFUL CAMPUS IN ORDER TO DRAW THE BEST
RESEARCHERS IN THE WORLD. SALK AND KAHN HAVING BOTH

E DESCENDED FROM RUSSIAN JEWISH PARENTS THAT HAD IMMIGRATED

TO THE UNITED STATES HAD A DEEPER CONNECTION THAN JUST MERE
PARTNERS ON AN ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT.

CONCEPT : 1. MAIN ENTRY

THE PROJECT DID NOT HAVE A FORMAL PROGRAM STARTING TO WORK 2. ADMINISTRATION
S ON, BUT EMERGED FROM DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN CLIENT AND
ARCHITECT. THIS UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES HAS
3.
4.
OPEN SPACE
RESEARCH BLOCK
UNDOUBTEDLY BEEN ONE OF THE KEY FACTORS THAT HAVE ALLOWED 5. ACADIMIC BLOCK
T THIS WORK TO BE CONSIDERED THE MOST IMPORTANT ARCHITECT AND
THAT SHE HAD ALMOST TOTAL FREEDOM TO EXPRESS THEIR IDEAS.
6.
7.
LABS
AUDITORIUM

U
D
Y
 SUMMARY:
STRUCTURE : While Louis Kahns Salk Institute Appears At First
The beams of the floors of underground labs are huge, each Sight To Be A Monument To Modernism,

L have a structure that leaves large holes are adrianitids and

supported on two carriers can lead to "bounce" to be flexible
and thus more resilient earthquakes, because California is
There Are Many Underlying Pre-modern
Influences In Its Design That Elevated The
Building Beyond The International Style Of Many
I in an area of high seismic activity. Buildings Of The Time. The Use Of Symmetry,
Monumentality, Repetition Of Forms, And Pre-
VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS modern Materials Like Wood
T Louis Kahn rejected the use of light materials like steel
and glass that appeared in many other modern or
And Marble Is Indicative Of Kahns Beaux-arts
Schooling. The Table Below Outline The
Contrasting Modern And Pre-modern Elements In
E international style works in favor of heavier materials
like reinforced concrete and brick. many of his The Salk Institute.
buildings were comprised of large, monolithic Kahn's concept of servant and served space is lent a EXTERIOR INTERIOR FEATURE
R geometries to convey the sense of monumentality he
hoped to achieve. while most other modern architects
new quality in the Salk institute. not only are there
service cores on the north and south ends of the
Glass, steel, exposed
concrete
Free plan
Functional space
Rectilinear forms
Lack of
Rectilinear Forms
A were using balanced asymmetry in their floor plans, buildings to house stairs, restrooms, and the like, but planning ornamentation
Lack of ornamental Stark concrete
Kahn often utilized a more classically influenced there are even entire floors dedicated to separating the

MODERN
symmetrical plan for his designs, as seen in the Exeter mechanical considerations of a building from the
T library and the Salk institute. laboratory space. the way spaces are located within the
floor plan recalls the way Palladio's villa rotunda used
EXTERIOR
U The foremost aspect of the exterior of the Salk institute is its
reinforced concrete construction. Kahn was more than masterful
the same rectangular form for every room. Kahn even
places the lab spaces in the center in a similar way to
the round central area of the villa rotunda.
R in his use of concrete for the institute, even experimenting with
several types and mixtures before settling on a final product.
WATER FEATURE:
The water feature running the axis of the central plaza is one
Teak wall screens
Symmetrical Plan
Repetition of office
forms
Travertine marble
construction
special attention was paid to the board-forming process and the Hierarchy in size of Warm wood Hierarchy of pool

E forms the process left in the concrete. in contrast, the less modern of the most non-modern elements of the Salk institute. it
serves no real function other than to add a visual element to
cubic volumes
Open courtyard
finishing forms
Water feature

MODERN
materials of marble and wood were used for the courtyard and and millwork
serves no function

PRE-
office screens, respectively. the courtyard. in some sense, it opposes the modern
rejection of ornamentation.

S
T CONCLUSION
Louis Kahn combined new techniques

U and forms with pre-Modern elements

D INTERIOR :
Perhaps the most non-modern feature of Kahn's interior
Y of the Salk institute is the use of warmer wood in
contrast to the brutal concrete used on the exterior.
while most of the interior surfaces are also exposed
concrete, Kahn introduces Burmese teak wall screens
and oak furnishings as a sort of organic contrast to the
man-made concrete material.
to achieve his monumental style,
embracing of the forms and ideas of
Added to the central channel was a sculptural cistern at
the west end of the site. the cascading pools of the cistern
the past which were rejected by most
other Modern architects of the time to
prove that the International Style and
are thought to be inspired by either the Mughal garden
Kahn saw in India and Pakistan or the Alhambra in Spain.
either way, it is clear that there are pre-modern
pure European Modernism were not
the only roads to fulfilling the needs of
influences. although at first sight there are striking modern a contemporary building. This work by
elements, like the use of rectilinear forms and slabs, the Kahn and some and some of his
presence of travertine marble and a water feature suggest contemporaries would allow architects
to move beyond the strict rules of
Kahn's pre-modern influences. the sculptural cistern
also features its own use of hierarchy and monumentality European Modernism and create new
that one might find in a classical fountain. styles and forms.