The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.
Louis KahnRead
The room is the beginning of architecture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Architecture starts with the design and essence of the room.
Louis Kahn emphasizes that the fundamental element of architecture lies in the room, suggesting that the experience and function of a space are paramount to architectural design. This highlights the importance of recognizing how rooms shape human experiences and interactions, laying the foundation for creating meaningful and functional architectural works.
Themes
ArchitectureDesignSpaceRoomFunction
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on architectural design, one could reference this quote to highlight the importance of space.
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
Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.
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
Similar quotes
Do you know what I've learned? That although ecstasy is the ability to stand outside yourself, dance is a way of rising up into space, of discovering new dimensions while still remaining in touch with your body. When you dance, the spiritual world and the real world manage to coexist quite happily. I think classical ballet dancers dance on pointe because they're simultaneously touching the earth and reaching up to the skies.
Paulo CoelhoRead
In other words, the unique value of the "authentic" work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value. This ritualistic basis, however remote, is still recognizable as secularized ritual even in the most profane forms of the cult of beauty.
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I don't think you can create art out of anger; it has to come out of some form of understanding. You have to feel good about who you are and that you could do something to change things.
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Theatre has nothing to do with buildings or other physical constructions. Theatre - or theatricality - is the capacity, this human property which allows man to observe himself in action, in activity. Man can see himself in the act of seeing, in the act of acting, in the act of feeling, the act of thinking. Feel himself feeling, think himself thinking.
Augusto BoalRead
Memories, impressions and emotions from the first 20 years on earth are most writers' main material; little that comes afterward is quite so rich and resonant.
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One has a nose. The nose scents and it chooses. An artist is simply a kind of pig snouting truffles.
Igor StravinskyRead