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.

Video of the Kimbell Museum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNOamzl3hXo


This video is a representation of the calm and serene state of this building.

I observed that the museum is made to build a sense of peace because of its big windows and ceiling openings that let the light in. The environment surrounding it is grass, aligned, symmetrical trees that contribute to that peace and stillness that the museum produces.

Kimbell Interior

In this picture, the shape of the museum can really be appreciated and it is obvious how its shape is crucial to the picture as a whole. The ceiling makes it look like the space flows and the light color of the walls allows the room to appear larger so that the audience can see the importance of these paintings and how they need a more spacious room to display such beautiful art. The floor is simple but smooth within itself and the overall feel of the room is just a serene emotion.




Source: Google Images

An Interesting Article

In an article by the Business Journals, it was stated that:

1. This museum is one of the most widely known and exceptional architectural successes of the modern era. 

2. Since its opening, it has earned praise and claim for being an innovative and classic modern building. 

3. And when Kahn built it, he was thinking of "the luminosity of silver" and he wanted to fulfill that through the open ceilings that admit natural light, which changes the intensity of the illumination and creates a sense of change.





Source: Business Journals Article

Interview with a First Hand Visitor

Nikolas Xie – a friend – Business Management Major at UT

“The Kimbell Museum is one of my favorite museums to visit in Ft. Worth. Another close museum is the Ft. Worth Modern Art Museum, and I believe the Kimbell is far superior; however, to be fair that may have more to do with my bias towards classical art than modern.

The building has a really pretty style that doesn’t feel too old-fashioned, but not too modern either. It has a very timeless feel inside and out. The exterior features many solid arches along the side that give the building a structured feel. The side is adorned with glass windows and doors that allow a nice amount of light to come in without overwhelming me with too much sunlight. The skylights inside are also really pleasant and the natural light reflects well off of the cream-colored interiors. Overall, I always feel at ease when I go to the Kimbell, with all of these architectural design decisions definitely contributing to my enjoyment.” 

Three Pertinent Facts

1. The Kimbell Art Museum was built after the Yale Art gallery, both made by Louis. I. Kahn, but with different purposes. The Kimbell was made as an institution and as a collection rather than being a more tradition piece like the gallery at Yale was.

2. The Kimbell family that started this museum did not have a place to exhibit their paintings at first. They tried their house, churches, the public library, but the display increased in popularity every time. There weren't enough funds to build a museum at first.

3. Kay Kimbell passed away in 1964 and it wasn't until then that, with his will money, his wife was able to gather enough resources to build a museum in the name of her husband.







Source: The Art Museum of Louis I. Kahn
              Loud, Patricia Cummings. "The Kimbell Art Museum." The Art Museums of Louis I. Kahn. Durham: Published by Duke UP in Association with Duke U Museum of Art, 1989. 101-09. Print.

The Museum's Surroundings

This Google Earth photo shows how the Kimbell can be surrounded by an urban area and still feel calm and peaceful. There may be traffic, people, events, and the light that warms and illuminates it, and the spatial rooms it has still give you a sense of a relaxed stated. 

Source: Google Earth

Personal Experience

When I first visited the Kimbell, I noticed the white, limestone color of the building outside. The colors made it stand out against the green shrubbery around the area, which allowed it to feel more subdued and natural. The interior gave off a natural feel to it as well, with its hardwood floors and minimalist look. One thing that struck me as interesting was how the natural light illuminated the museum’s interior. A guide explained to me that most museums make use of artificial lights because that’s the best way to preserve paintings, but in order to allow natural sunlight to be used in the museum’s design, Kahn implemented metal reflectors that go down the middle of the museum’s halls, that help keep excessive sunlight off the paintings.

Bibliography

        Jimrisd. "Kimbell Art Museum Louis Kahn.wmv." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Nov. 2009. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.

Kimbell Art Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2016. 

"Kimbell Art Museum Profile - The Business Journals." Widgets RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.

Loud, Patricia Cummings. "The Kimbell Art Museum." The Art Museums of Louis I. Kahn. Durham: Published by Duke UP in Association with Duke U Museum of Art, 1989. 101-09. Print.

Weston, Richard. Key Buildings of the 20th Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print. 

www.kimbellart.org/about/history. Kimbell Art Museum, n.b. Web. 19 Sep. 2016