Salk Institute

Two parallel laboratory buildings face an empty court of travertine, where a narrow channel of water leads the eye towards the Pacific. Kahn called the court a façade to the sky. The raw concrete and the teak age beautifully in the sharp light.

Jonas Salk, who had developed a vaccine against polio, founded an institute for biological research and engaged Louis Kahn in 1959. He wanted a building that Picasso would want to visit. Construction lasted from 1962 to 1965. Kahn worked on the plan for a long time and changed it several times, and the final solution was two mirrored laboratory buildings on either side of a court.

The laboratories are large open spaces without columns, and between them are service floors where pipes and cables can be rearranged without disturbing the research. Facing the court stand small towers with studies for the scientists, with windows angled towards the sea and teak panels. The court is of travertine and almost completely empty. Kahn took advice from the Mexican architect Luis Barragán, who suggested that the court should have no trees. A narrow channel of water runs through the court towards the sea. The concrete was cast with great care, and the holes left by the formwork ties have been left visible.

The Salk Institute is regarded as Kahn’s masterpiece and one of the most important buildings of the post-war period. The teak has been restored, and an extension was built in the 1990s. The court is one of the most famous places in 20th-century architecture and shows Kahn’s ability to turn simple materials and light into something almost spiritual.

• Post-war modernism
• Louis Kahn