About Me

My name is Karina Pulido, a student coursing architecture 308 with the unique number 00633. I have made this blog to fulfill the Scavenger Hunt assignment. Enjoy!

Uncovering the Basic Facts

Name: Kimbell Art Museum

Location: Ft. Worth, TX

Architect: Louis Kahn and Renzo Piano

Date of Construction: Kahn Building in 1972

Source: kimbellart.org

Identifying the Purpose, Program, and Users

Purpose: To store artwork including the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell

Program: The Kimbell Art Foundation needed a building to store the old masters collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell. Their collection was one of the highest quality collections in the Southwest, and thus they requested a grand structure to store all of the paintings.

Users: Many visitors, students, and art enthusiasts use the building on a daily basis in order to study/admire its paintings, sculptures, and pottery. However, the building is also used by the Kimbell Art Foundation to protect and store the collections.


Source: kimbellart.org

Architectural Drawings of the Kimbell

View from the top of the Kimbell Art Museum 

Rough sketches of the Art Museum

Sources: Kimbell Art Museum website (top), and Plans, Sections, and Elevations

Two Photographs of the Exterior

The Kimbell Art Museum Exterior

The materials of this building are concrete, travertine (type of colored limestone imported from Italy), glass, wood, lead for the roof. 

Dark and Light

The glass windows and doors at the entrance of the Kimbell allow for just enough light to come in to illuminate it without oversaturating the interior with excessive sunlight. 

Sources: Google Images

A Book Called Plans, Sections, and Elevations

This books talks about the major and most impactful buildings of the 20th century. When talking about the Kimbell Art Museum, it refers to its creator as one that admires light and is aware of its power in the structure of buildings and construction overall. Not only does the building admit light from the glass windows, but the author mentions how Kahn has to also be in contact with the passing clouds and how those affect his building so he decided to create the skylights to allow more of the Texas sunlight into the architecture piece. Essentially, the book does a great job going into specific detail as to how the building is located and what the purpose of every inch of it is.


Source: Plans, Section, and Elevations:Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century

Drawing of the Kimbell Museum

This drawing really emphasizes the shape of the museum. Its simple, yet effective, form to let in light from the sky and resembling a larger size is what makes this building one of a kind and a great achievement in architectural history.