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It is important, that you honor the material that you use

                                                                                          - Louis I Kahn, 1971

 

The quote above has been taken from a rare video of Louis Kahn’s lecture at University of Pennsylvania. The popular video depicts Kahn ‘talking’ to a brick, as he explains to his students, the importance of honoring a material.

 

The Institute of Public Administration, housed within the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), is an ideal testament to that quote. The building’s raw and exposed brickwork has stood the test of time and has gradually evolved to achieve a monumental status. While Kahn does use both brick and concrete, there is a clear demarcation between their uses.

 

Concrete reflects the quality of strength and is used in the structure of the building. As an element, it stands alone engraving bold grey lines onto the red brick backdrop.

 

The Brick on the other hand, adds to the terrene feeling of the building. It makes the space more sensitive, and the journey through it, a more spiritual experience.

 

With its interesting play of light and shade, the internal spaces make a strong statement. Kahn uses the building as a platform to depict that a space is much more than just the four walls that enclose it.

 

Kahn has gone back to the fundamentals of institution design and allowed himself to come up with new, bold ideologies that change the way the school functions. When asked about the Indian institute of Management, he once said; “The organization of the complex, as well as its architecture, reflects the conceptual organization of learning which is focused on three inevitable components: the school, the students and the teachers, which constitute 'The Indian Institute of Management'.”

 

Kahn also believed that a significant amount of learning happens outside the classroom. This thought is clearly reflected in his spatial planning where there are transitions between spaces; from public to private, semi-private and open. Each space also seems to be in a continuous dialogue with light through its openings.

 

The bold geometry of the exterior along with the simple green carpet of grass surrounding the building, makes a rooted modernist statement that, in the late 1960’s, must have been a completely revolutionary sight in a land that was still quite obsessed with ornate and intricate detailing.

 

All blocks of the building overlook the LiK Plaza. Having perfect proportions of 1:2, the plaza emphasizes the strong geometry used even in Kahn’s planning.

 

Even though he has just one building in India, Kahn has managed to inspire generations of architects here to move out of the ‘pure logic’ design and move towards designing ‘form with feeling’.

 

 

Citations:

  - http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Institute_of_Public_Admin.html

  - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institute_of_Management_Ahmedabad

  -  All photographs have been taken by the author and / or architect Deepti Gangwal.

Louis I Khan : The Legend's Legacy

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