The tectonic integration of Louis I. Kahn's exeter library

Abstract

Louis Kahn's architectural works embody his rational tectonic epistemological perspective by exhibiting the ways he respected the nature of construction materials and how he built his structures in accordance to how he believed that space, itself, desired to be portrayed. From the Exeter Library, which was completed in 1972, it is evident that Kahn integrates two different structural systems, bricks and reinforced concrete, into a design concept that exhibits his profound respect for the innate characteristics of the chosen construction materials and the space that they create. The current study focuses on the concept of spatial formation, structural systems, piping distribution, and their integration into the construction of Louis I. Kahn's Exeter Library. A review of the literature is first presented, which is followed by a comparison and analysis of a number of various plans, and 3D simulation models of the project. The relationships existing between the methods that Louis Kahn employed and the nature of the materials he used during spatial formation are presented, which is followed by a description of how these techniques enabled Kahn to express his rational tectonic ideals in the integration of construction materials and piping distributions. It is shown, for example, that Kahn endeavored to integrate various types of piping distribution in relation to the demands of construction and structural forms. In this way, Kahn's work interprets different characteristics of space in various types of architecture to display a rational tectonic method that responds to the form of a space.