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Kimbell Art Museum
The final building to be included in my portfolio of studies regarding daylight design in architecture is the Kimbell Art Gallery, Forth Worth, Texas. The Kimbell Art Museum was commissioned to house the collection of the late Kay and Velma Kimbell, who throughout their marriage collected two hundred and forty British and French portraits dating between the 18th and 19th century. (1) When Kay passed away, he left the remainder of his estate to a foundation with instructions that a museum be built in Forth Worth for himself and Velma’s shared collection. Thus, was born The Kimbell Art Museum.
American-Estonian architect Louis Khan was the architect of choice. Originally born ‘Itze Leib’ on an island named Osel off the coast of Estonia, (2) his family immigrated to the United Stated of America when he was four and settled in Philadelphia. The Americanised their names, taking on Kahn after a relative that had immigrated before them, instead of Shmuilowsky. (3)
Similarly, to Frank Lloyd wright, Khan is considered one of modernisms most acclaimed architects, with other architectural endeavours such as the National Parliament house of Bangladesh and Fisher house. Kahn has a wide architectural portfolio ranging from commercial to domestic. With regard to the importance of daylight in his other designs, Kahn has always placed a great emphasis on daylight and the impact it has on the indoor environment. In his Philips Exeter Library Academy for example, daylight enters the central space through a clear story and is distributed throughout the floors internally as well as externally. This promotes the notion that Kahn places an importance on the roll of daylight and external openings in his architecture.
Unlike FLW however, Kahn takes a different approach to that of the Guggenheim with regard to the use of daylight and art exhibition. Where the Guggenheim baths its interior with a generous, abundance of daylight, Kahn controls the introduction of daylight within his galley space. The form of the Kimbell Art Museum consists of a concrete cycloid vault, split symmetrically in two halves by a two-and-a-half-foot gap. (4) Light is then brought into the internal space from above through this gap, however, concealed by a wing shaped reflector. This clever, innovative mechanism ensures that light is distributed evenly throughout the space regardless of the external weather conditions. Little to no shadows occur either.
The way in which light is introduced into this space combined with Kahn’s choice in material makes for an interesting interior atmosphere. Kahn carefully chose a shade of concrete that had notes of lavender. (5) This makes for a moonlit-esque light effect. Kahn describes the as being ‘a touch of silver in the room’. Daylight subtly seeps into the space, interacting with the cool tones of the internal space, as well as travertine and white oak (6). When considering the transition of the art viewer from the outdoors into such a serene, dimly lit gallery space, Kahn gave much thought. Trees were planted externally in front of the entrance portico in order to visually prepare visitors for the juristic reduction of light. (7) The human eye can adapt from a lux of 0.2 (a moonlit sky) to approximately 100,000 lux (bright daylight), a transition however creates a smoother adaptation. (8) That is what Kahn aims to do in this inclusion of landscape design in The Kimbell Art Museum.
(From top left) (1&2) kimbellart.org (3) architectuul.com (4) inexhibit.com (5) reddit.com (6) light is the theme, Kahn, L., 2012
Kahn payed great attention to the detail of light when designing the gallery space and in fact claimed that ‘Light Is the theme’. The narrow plexiglass skylights allow for the subtly fluctuating illuminance of art (9). As the art collection expanded post the lives of both Kay and Velma, there was call for an expansion of the gallery space. This was commissioned to Renzo Piano, who cautiously studied the ‘distribution of light and luminance distribution on surfaces’ in order to match the quality of daylight in the old, within the new addition to the Museum.(10) Piano opted for a glass roof, however chose to maintain the simplistic cool toned material, sticking with light grey concrete.(11)
The Kimbell Art Museum in Forth Worth is situated 32 degrees North of the equator and has a humid subtropical climate due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. It has an average warm season of approximately 249 days a year (12) and a cloud coverage of 26% of the year (13). Due to the bouncing of daylight from reflectors into the internal galleries of the museum, Kahn’s design is rather weather proof. The indoor experience remains uninhibited by the changing weather conditions of Forth Worth and therefor the viewer is provided with an uninhibited view of the collection.
Although the approach that Louis Kahn takes in providing a gallery space with daylight, is vastly different to that of Frank Lloyd Wright, I believe that he is highly successful in creating an experience for the visitors of the Kimbell Art Museum. Kahn controls the level of daylight emitted into the space in coherence select choice in material in order to create a certain environment that promotes the artwork while also creating a space of architectural beauty. Kahn also took into consideration the need for a visual transitionary phase for the individual. This inclusion of mature trees into the landscaping of the Museum, passing the visitors through dappled light displays an awareness pf the science behind light. This again constitutes good daylight design in architecture.
Bibliography
(1) History | Kimbell Art Museum [Internet]. Kimbellart.org. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.kimbellart.org/about/history
(2) Louis I. Kahn Biography | Kimbell Art Museum [Internet]. Kimbellart.org. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.kimbellart.org/content/louis-i-kahn-biography
(3) Louis I. Kahn Biography | Kimbell Art Museum [Internet]. Kimbellart.org. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.kimbellart.org/content/louis-i-kahn-biography
(4) Balakrishnan P. [Internet]. 2018 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://medium.com/@priji/looking-at-light-in-the-kimbell-art-museum-3b85f2e3bc62 Priji Balakrishnan
(5) Balakrishnan P. [Internet]. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://medium.com/@priji/looking-at-light-in-the-kimbell-art-museum-3b85f2e3bc62 Priji Balakrishnan
(6) Louis I. Kahn Building | Kimbell Art Museum [Internet]. Kimbellart.org. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.kimbellart.org/art-architecture/architecture/kahn-building
(7) Balakrishnan P. [Internet]. 2018 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://medium.com/@priji/looking-at-light-in-the-kimbell-art-museum-3b85f2e3bc62 Priji Balakrishnan
(8) Renzo Piano Pavilion | Kimbell Art Museum [Internet]. Kimbellart.org. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.kimbellart.org/art-architecture/architecture/renzo-piano-pavilion
(9) [Internet]. Architectmagazine.com. 2014 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/lighting/structural-light-the-new-renzo-piano-pavilion-at-the-kimbell_o march 17th 4014
(10) Renzo Piano Pavilion | Kimbell Art Museum [Internet]. Kimbellart.org. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.kimbellart.org/art-architecture/architecture/renzo-piano-pavilion
(11) Renzo Piano Pavilion | Kimbell Art Museum [Internet]. Kimbellart.org. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.kimbellart.org/art-architecture/architecture/renzo-piano-pavilion
(12) DFW Climate Narrative [Internet]. Weather.gov. 2020 [cited 25 October 2020]. Available from: https://www.weather.gov/fwd/dnarrative#:~:text=The%20Dallas%2DFort%20Worth%20climate,to%20more%20than%2050%20inches.
(13) Average Weather at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, United States, Year Round - Weather Spark [Internet]. Weatherspark.com. 2020 [cited 26 October 2020]. Available from: https://weatherspark.com/y/145920/Average-Weather-at-Dallas-Fort-Worth-International-Airport-Texas-United-States-Year-Round
