The Teacher

"Sense their spirit"...the spirit of a teacher's knowledge guiding a student.  To sense "what is" rather then "what the solution is."  Kahn believes this is the first step in being able to find your opinion in the knowledge.  This teacher is not a director of answers but rather a source of insight.  Just as the student is learning the teacher is also learning.

I find to teach is extremely difficult.  There is an underline sense of pressure a teacher must feel from a student.  A good teacher allows a student to fail so the student learns how to search out their spirit and actually put a teacher's knowledge to use.  A great teacher becomes a mentor...the person that student aspires to become.

The Architect

Who is the architect?  What makes someone noble enough to be called an architect?  Kahn writes that once a person can feel the spirit of what they created then they are worthy of claiming the title.  It takes a long time to live up to your own aspirations.  Kahn feels that our greatest worth is in the part that we claim no ownership.  Since we feel no ownership, our work is never complete.  The architect designs meaningful structure that they offer up to the world only to feel incomplete.  To be an architect is to convey the beauty of the space while the ownership lies in the users.

I feel that with every design an architect finds a piece of himself or herself.  The ownership maybe lost in the end but the expression they give to the world defines them.  The architecture becomes the architect. 

Architecture

Kahn looks at architecture as a form of art because after all it is an expression.  He feels a built form should evoke unmeasurable qualities because these give the architecture an existence.  The measurable qualities provide the architecture with a presence.  Together the measurable and unmeasurable qualities give architecture life.

People often forget how important architecture is to their daily lives.  We walk in and out of great structures and sometimes never take the time to see the wonderful forms around us.  It is not until we stop and our breath is taken away by a completely unique piece of architecture that we realize what Kahn means by the word unmeasurable.  This type of architecture is art because it represents an outward expression to the world.

Renzo Piano, architect, once said in an interview "curiosity is a much better emotion then intimidation."  Designing to him is about crafting out a structure that draws emotion and becomes an expression of his thoughts.  His architectural forms portray unmeasurable qualities in every detail and take on an existence of their own.

Institutions

I could not say this better then the words of Kahn "Institution stems from the inspiration to live."  To live is to express yourself, to desire, to achieve.  The institution provides us with the platform to be free. Free to learn, grow, and become.  The institution is not one place but a single unit of information as institutions multiple based on human desire they become cities of information.  A then maps out patterns of streets or connections between the institutions.

Kahn talks further about institutions becoming schools, chapels, and architecture but I feel that it is important to remember that institutions are our databases of knowledge that provide us with the opportunity to express ourselves.  

Wall + Column

Kahn talks about the wall as if is the beginning of what we call interior shelter.  He goes on to show how man over came the wonderful power of the wall and began to conform it to what he needed it to do.  Soon the man overcame the wall and broke free to create a window.  Next, the man altered all that was great about a solid wall and what was left was a tiny artifact...a column.  The strange thing is that the destruction of the wall into a column began what we now call "architecture." 

Kahn has a great way of describing things so they become more personal.  Could the wall be a man and could the world be the wall.  So in turn the strength in the beginning is slowly changed and distorted by the effects of the world.

This makes me wonder about issues of sustainability and green design.  Are we trying to fix what we started and what was great to begin with or are we just creating a window in the wall of design?

Materials

Realization in form... with this comes a realization of shape, form, feel, and use.  There is an honor in understanding materials.  Kahn feels that individuals must respect the natural state of a material and only until you see the beauty in a material are you able to create.  Kahn warns individuals to never use material in a subsidiary was so as to make the material behave in a way that is disrespectful to the honor of its character.  

This topic is currently a major issue in building and in world views.  Recently, people are becoming aware of the need to be more conscious of their footprint on the world.  THere is a strong lean towards sustainability and green design.  I feel this is an important conversion people must have in order to create a better world.  There is a need for people to understand the beauty that surrounds them everyday in nature and the elements it provides us.  We have to respect our environment and in return it will honor us.

Garden + Room

Nature in relation to Architecture.  Kahn weaves these two words together to explain the relationship between the garden and room as both being the beginning place of design chosen by an individual.  The individual then consciously adds elements to this space to create an extension of themselves.