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'Joints Like Sculpture'- Louis Kahn's Richards Building and the "Precisionist Strain"

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'Joints Like Sculpture'- Louis Kahn's Richards Building and the 41 4 ARCHIPELAGOS: OUTPOSTS OF THE AMERICAS 'Joints like Sculpture'- Louis Kahn's Richards Building and the "Precisionist Strain" THOMAS LESLIE, AIA Iowa State University The recent opening of the Marshall D. Ile~ersArchixe at the P; ritirig in 1960. \ incent Scully described Louis kahn's design Universitj of Pennsllxania has provided a neu source of for tlie 4. Y.Richards Medical Laboratories at the I nix ersitj of photographs docurnentirig tlie building's unique construction. Pennsqlxania as a participant in the American '"Precisionist The parallel discover! bj the author of a prexiousl! unpubl- Strain.""' This short-lix ed formulation described for Scullj a ished manuscript bq the project's precast contractor sheds tendenc? in herican architecture toward 'puritj of shape. additional light on the project's multi-faceted concern for linearit! of detail. and. at times. compulsixe repetition of weaxing together function. performance and assembly. These elements." and included xlorlts as early as the 'taut. hollow documents support an explanation of the building's conception hoxes' of 17th century Ilassachusetts. the 'clear. sharplj as the -monumentalization of technique.' and the largel! separate geometric shapes* of the Lniversit! of \ irginia. and undocumented role of Iiahn as a building technologist oi the Louis Sullix an's "actixe staternentls] of human force."? \lore first order. Richards' direct influence on a generation of currentlj. the "icj. taut cubes' of SOVs banks and office technically inclined architects in the 1970s indicates that these buildings and the 'brittle planeb^ and *ruggedl! conceix ed' concrete of 1iahn"s building represented the continuation of nenl! axailable documents support the xieu of Kahn as a - A seminal figure in the dexelopment of the so-called 'hi-tech' this Puritan obsession ~ith'perfect. closed and weightless school of the late 20th centun. shedding light on both his forms.' In Scullj's xiex$. this emphasis on perfection reflected a career arid those of Renzo Piano. Uorman Foster. et. al. long-running attempt bj ,American architects to make up for their provincial relationship to the richness of European architectural culture. "One daj I mited the site during the erection of the prefabrrcatedji-anl~of tlze b~ddzng.Tlze craile's 200foot This. of course. is an odd argument. one that Ma. short-lixed boom plcked I" 22;;-ton menlbers and suung then1 into and that has not generallj been borne out bj subsequent place like nzatclrstztXs mowd b\ tlze Imnd. I resented the events. let to find Kahn mentioned at the conclusion of garislzl? painted clone, tluc monster it Illcll hunnliated Scull!'s eqsaj is doubly striking - first. because Iiahn is hard17 7111 building to be out of scale. I ~tatchedthe crane g.o exer thought of in Puritan terms. hut more proxocatixelj tl~roughits man] nlol ements a// the time calculati17p holc because the description so lteenlj fits the experience of man? more do? s tlm 'tlzing' 11 as to domrnatc the site and Richards. Scullj notes in particular that the 'brittle planes' of bu~ldingbefore a jlattermg pl~otog~uphof the buildillg brich and glass that form the exterior nalls of the Richards could be made. laboratories are pla~ed ofi against -exposed and rugpedlx conceixed colunini and tantilexerrd ~pandrelsof which the .'lolc I am glad of this exyelience betause ~t made me structure is made.' This suggests both the taut perfection of the aftare oj the nleanmg of the C~CLIIP117 dehlgn, for it 1s American colonial house and the rriec4er. rnore organic English nterrl~ the eutenslon of the arm hkr a hummer. lot[ I farmhouse that appears to pox\ out of and decaq into the soil. hegal7 to tlzinh of member? 100 tons m ~lelglltlifted b\ Such an integration of rigorouslj conceix ed sbiris xzitli bolder. blgger cranes. Tlre p7eat nirnibers lrould be on11 the rnore sculptural structure led Scull> to conclude that Richards parts of a composltc tolz~nlnrczth jornta Me sculpture zn might lead tlie in putting -our instinct fo~perfection ...to gold and porcelam and Irarborlng rooms on 1 arzozrs rnore releasing uv.' t omhining our nervous. Puritan enel2 le~elspared 117 nlarble." regalding detailing and crispness \$it11 the formal generositj of - Loui- I. Iuhn. "Form arid Design". 1961 conterriporai?/ der elopents in Europe. 92nd ACSA ANNUAL MEETING MIAMI FL MARCH 18-21,2004 41 5 In fact. this Sorrnula describes the conception and execution of' Richards particularlj- well. Docurnerlts and photograph! in tlie Louis Iialirl 4rchive. as vcll as a description in the -4ugust the architectural possibilities of' prestressed concrete. Following l<orricndant 4rchives of the precasting s!-stetli used for the their ultimately urlsucc~eisful\$-orli on the Ferrni cornpetitio~l. Ijuilding. demonstrate that Iiahn M-assirnultarleousl) interested komendant hosted Rahn's students at a prestressed concrete in primary aspects of the building's experience that uere both plant in Lakewood. \+liere he Ivas a cor~sultingengineer. kahn formal and 'precisionist.' that is. both tectonicallj- and composi- rhapsodized about the plant arid its equipment. suggesting that tionall! refined. The design was developed to express through the idca of prestressed members was firmlj planted in his rnird massing and detail that tlie laboratories had extensive require- hy the tirne the Richards project M-as awarded a fev months ments for senices. that the vertical nature of the project later.' dernanded a structure that would he efficient and buildable on a confined site. and that the materials used in constiuctiorl Between Februai? and June 1957. kahn and his consultants could express the sequence oi assembly and the performatire dexeloped a scheme fol Penn that would stubbornly resist P; natule of each element. hile much has been made of the alteration throughout the duration of the project. Based on building's expression of senant and serled spaces. hov these Duhin's initial consultations regarding plumbing lines and systems were actually integrated into the qtructural and code-required falls. the design team proposed a single standaid constlucti\e s!stems of the building has remained largel! module for the laboratories. a 45'-0" square -studio' space free unexarnined. Lpon more detailed anal!sis. Richards reTeals of columns or ~alls.This permitted a central pipe loop that additional la! ers of designed and constructed logic. demonstrat- I+ ould effecti~el! sen ice the entire floor plate. while permitting ing Kahn's profound grasp of building technolog! arid the role rrlaxirnurrl flexibilit! fol bench arid partition locations. This it pla!ed in the expression of monumental ploprammatic and flexibility seems to hale etemmed in part flom the understand- architectural goals. able lack of specificit! in the early program. hut also from Iiahrr's apparent IielLousness in ox er-designing such highl! Iiahn receiled the corn~nissionfor Richards in Februar~1957. personal spaces for researchers. The standard module was to be folloving ewtensk e internal discussions at Penn regarding the replicated over eight floors into toners. ~\iththree of these building's site. piogram. and occupants. it the time. Iiahn had towers clustering- around a central core unit containing- rne- completed the >ale Art Gallerj and the A4merica~lFederation of chanical systerns. animal quarters. ele~atorsand stairs. Fro111 Labor Building in Philadelphia. but had built neither a the beginning. the site arrangement placed the laboratoij lahoratoq nor a high rise structure. The Laboratoq building toners in a pinu heel formation around the core. or '-touer X." \\as to be on a prominent site on the lledical School campus. This created offsets in the o~erallsite massing. allowing each along Hamilton ~alkand surrounded by buildings and dormito- touer a three-sided exposure to dajlight. Home~erit also pla>ed ries in the collegiate gothic style bj Cope and Stewardson. on the fine distinction between the building as a single mass Howeier. it \\as seen as a relatively utilitarian project compared arid a collection of independent elements. a coarse-grained x+ith better-funded and more lisible buildings planned for the articulation that x\ould form the basis for a much finer grain of other end of the Medical School campus, in conjunction nith articulation that ordered the bui1ding"s sjstems and detailz as the Lnkersitj of Penns!hania Hospital. Ice! to the success of the design progressed. the project. Kahn had prexiously formed solid uorking relation- ships with structural engineers Iieast arid Hood. who \+ere On the exterior of the laboratory towers. subsidiarj senice iuns based in Philadelphia and mho had collaborated on the Yale including exhaust air. secondaq plumbing. and fire evape Art Galleq. and nith mechanical engineer Fred Uuhin. based in stairs uere to be hou~edin tol+ers that repeated the logic of Boston. *to~+erX' on a smaller scale. In July 1957. the first draming. of these towers sho~+eda ladder truss. hollow and presunidhl! Idded to this roster of consultants for the Richa~dsproject na- open air. harboring smaller duct and stair to\\els mithin. The 4ugust komendant. Kahn had first contacted ICo~nendant circular openings of the truss formed the dooruaj to the lab regarding the Enrico Fermi Vemorial cornpetition. for a site at floor. a trope that na- repeated in tlie cantilexered beam. the Lrli\elsit\ of Chicago. The two formed a fast friendship. extending from the truzb and forrning the lab floors. One rlietch based partlj on their shared familial roots in Estonia and pad! in palticular sho~sthwe canthers spanned by a seriek of on a collaboratix e d! namic that M odd pro\ e extraordinaril! ersatz 1 ierendeel trusae*. mith arced openings allowing passage producti~e 01el their eighteen years of I+ orli together. Iiomen- of pipes and. presumahl!. duct^ orli." In \upst 1957. theye dant nas neithei a form-gixer nor a designer.
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