Ancient and future images of the present: Impressions of the Kimbell Art Museum

摘要

"My mind is full of Roman greatness and the vault so etched itself in my mind that, though I cannot employ it, it's there, always ready. And the vault seems to be the best. And I realize that the light must come from a high point where the light is best in its zenith. The vault, rising not high, not in an august manner, but somehow appropriate to the size of the individual. And its feeling of being home and safe came to mind". Louis Kahn's thoughts on the Kimbell Art Museum (hereinafter, Kimbell) are insightful and prescient. Kahn conjured images of "Roman greatness" as he envisioned a design that would become one of his consummate works. These images spring from a distant past to produce the timeless present that Kahn desired for a work not only at ease in the harsh Texas sunlight but serenely anchored to its park-like setting as if it had always been there. The Kimbell underlines Kahn's keen perception that works of architecture do not obstinately cling to their past, present or future but instead inhabit each with magnanimous ease. An artist who imbued his work with a deep generosity toward others, Kahn searched through his catalog of images for ways to make the building more accessible to all. Words and images are like sketches in search of an ideal scale, volume, texture, measure, light or material. In this search we can trace the care that the architect took in considering each component in an integrated composition. At times we might follow the trajectory of a material as it becomes a reflective plane or a fleeting cusp of light. Or we might come across a corner shaped by infinite variations. As time passes we come to see how each component becomes indispensable, relevant and vital to the Kimbell's daily enactment of an architecture that never repeats itself.