Louis Kahn: On the Creation of Imperfect Symmetry through Simple Forms

On the Creation of Imperfect Symmetry through Simple Forms

Kahn’s coworker, Marshall Meyers, once said in an attempt to explain Kahn’s process:
‘He talked about “design” and “form” often. To him design was the “how” and form was the “what”. Design was those things which were personal, which were his: the colours he liked, his love of natural materials, his preference for certain proportions and shapes. Form was what to do. He searched for realizations which, if found, would belong to everyone.’
When looking at Kahn’s works, one cannot help but notice the intrinsic elements which somehow create a visually interesting progression, aided by the presence of symmetry. However, when one looks closer, there is something wrong with the forms; it is not completely symmetrical, though one might not notice without careful examination. Kahn depends on simple forms because many simple forms are inherently symmetric, either radial or axial. He continues to develop the system with these basic forms, and along the way, carefully changing some aspect of the form, whether it be as small as an extra wall, or so much as an extra room, to create a very subtle variation in the order. Often times, the change to the simple form create its own symmetry, while interrupting the simple form’s symmetry. By maintaining such an imperfect symmetry, Kahn utilizes his spaces to create a continuously interesting visual experience.
The National Assembly at Dacca presents a variety of symmetries, both from the basic forms, and from the modified spaces. The central figure has massive amounts of radial symmetry, in that it is a regular polygon. Surrounding it, on 90° intervals are rectangular forms rotated accordingly to be positioned tangentially to the central figure. The modified spaces have their own axial symmetry, although they do not harmonize symmetries with the central forms themselves.
The Exeter Library is square in nature, and therefore has strong axial symmetry, but the definition of the corner spaces provide a very subtle, yet important perturbation to the symmetrical order. In addition, small sections of walls to the north and west areas also disturb the symmetry of void space.
The Kimbell museum has a very strongly defined single axis symmetry, but only on the upper floor, which is of greater importance than the lower floor. In addition, the symmetry is greatly disturbed by large blocks of service space, scattered along the service space axes, which do not provide a system of symmetry.
The Trenton Bath House is also square in design, and therefore has clearly defined axial symmetry. The horizontal axis of symmetry is much stronger than the vertical axis because of the four columns in the middle, whose alignment favors a horizontal axis. The intentional misalignment of columns to the north end disrupt an otherwise perfectly symmetrical building.
The Salk Institute is also nearly symmetrical, but in this instance, the nature of the rooms provide a dissymmetry. The function of rooms on the western and eastern ends at the north differs from those at the south. As one experiences this system as a whole, one would expect a perfect symmetry, structurally, although the differing functions provide interest to this system.