The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.
Louis KahnRead
Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Architecture seeks to uncover and express deeper truths about human experience and the environment.
In this quote, Louis Kahn emphasizes that architecture goes beyond mere construction; it is an art form driven by the desire to discover and convey fundamental truths. It suggests that through the design and creation of spaces, architects have the opportunity to express profound insights about humanity, nature, and existence, ultimately creating environments that resonate with truth and meaning.
Themes
ArchitectureTruthDesignArtHuman Experience
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about sustainable design, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of creating spaces that reflect environmental truths.
More from Louis Kahn
All quotes βI sense a Threshold: Light to Silence, Silence to Light - an ambiance of inspiration, in which the desire to be, to express, crosses with the possible Light to Silence, Silence to Light crosses in the sanctuary of art.
Louis KahnRead
Greek architecture taught me that the column is where the light is not, and the space between is where the light is. It is a matter of no-light, light, no-light, light. A column and a column brings light between them. To make a column which grows out of the wall and which makes its own rhythm of no-light, light, no-light, light: that is the marvel of the artist.
Louis KahnRead
The room is the beginning of architecture.
Louis KahnRead
The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need. The world never needed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony until he created it. Now we could not live without it.
Louis KahnRead
We are born of light. The seasons are felt through light. We only know the world as it is evoked by light.
Louis KahnRead
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Discuss unto me: art thou officer, Or art thou base, common, and popular?
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To write a novel is to embark on a quest that is very romantic. People have visions, and the next step is to execute them. That's a very romantic project. Like Edvard Munch's strange dreamlike canvases where people are stylized, like 'The Scream.' Munch must have had that vision in a dream, he never saw it.
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