Shifts between the conceptual and the material stages of architectonic design in Louis I. Kahn

Abstract

In order to expand the understanding of the creative process in architecture, this paper investigates, on the basis of the analysis of several graphic notations of design made available by the specialized literature, the ways in which the shifts between the conceptual formulation and the design solution take place in Louis Kahn’s First Unitarian Church project in Rochester, NY (1959-1967). Kahn establishes two distinct and constantly alternating stages in the design process, defined as the conceptual and the material stages. The notions of “form” and “design” derive from this theoretical abstraction and seem to be essential for the understanding of Kahn’s creative process. So, the means used by the architect to structure the design problem becomes the object of attention in this study, rather than the design solution itself. Kahn’s incessant ontological investigation of the origin and essential nature of things leads him to the search for permanent and generic formal structures and the exploration of archetypes as important heuristic resources. The observation of some other design projects conceived by Kahn revealed some similarity with the main structural principle found in the project analyzed here. The commonality of features suggests the development of a notoriously peculiar approach to architectural design.

Keywords: architecture, architectural design, design process.