Jonas Salk founded the Salk Institute in 1960 and asked Louis I. Kahn to design a research environment that could accommodate changing scientific work. The buildings opened in 1965 in La Jolla, California. Two matching groups of laboratories face one another across a large travertine courtyard, with the Pacific Ocean beyond its western end.
The apparent simplicity conceals a carefully divided program. Laboratory floors alternate with accessible levels for utilities, allowing equipment and services to change without dominating the research spaces. Study towers project toward the courtyard, giving individual work a separate place beside the shared laboratories. Concrete, teak, glass, steel and lead were chosen for durability as well as their architectural character.
Daylight is a practical part of the design. Large areas of glazing illuminate the laboratories, while light wells reach the lower levels. Across the courtyard, repeated concrete walls and wooden window panels frame a much larger view of sky and water. The arrangement brings together the demands of an active scientific institution and the stillness of an open, ordered landscape.
Le Corbusier Visual Arts Center, Cambridge
