'The learner ...

摘要

...is now the master.' So intoned Darth Vader in the famous scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi gets it in Star Wars; but as well all know from the sequels and prequels, the power of The Force ensures Alec Guinness will be back to haunt him. Renzo Piano might well have cause to look over his shoulder now his extension to Louis Kahn's Kimbell Art Museum (pl2) is complete. Building in the shadow of greatness can be a poisoned chalice; it is not for the faint-hearted, and is a testament to the architect's ego, running to the very core of their genius. So this light-drenched pavilion, a kind of Kimbell Museum in negative, will be forever held up to the dark mirror of his former master; as Jacobs Webber's technicolour revamp (p28) is destined to be compared to FarrelPs postmodern egg-cup building that it supercedes.