Part 4 - Lou Kahn transcript: Architecture dreams

When listening to Kahn lecture about his Venice Congressional Hall design, it’s as important to listen to what Kahn didn’t talk about as much as what he did talk about. Kahn spent 6 years working on this proposal that would have spanned across the Canale delle Galeazze like a suspension bridge, with an expressed sloped post-tensioned concrete slab replete with two stair towers that would have risen from opposite banks of the canal. His proposal was ultimately rejected by city officials like Le Corbusier’s hospital, the Palazzo dei Congressi, because it didn’t work with the historical fabric of Venice. 

From the onset of the project, Kahn had been warned by the city’s health commissioner, Vito Chiarelli that Venice had “innate inability to accept abstract forms embedded in its historic context,” but Kahn's refused to compromise his vision. 

Kahn does not discuss the particulars of his Venice proposal, nor does he show any slides of it. Instead Kahn focuses on the importance of looking beyond the current reality and looking at the fundamental issues of a building project. At its heart, architecture is a dream… it changes the way people use a site, it inspires structural and technological innovations not yet realized. His design is a meditation on the evolution of a city, it’s a resolution to the paradox of building on water that involves public agencies that didn't exist, it’s a provocation and an uncompromising solitary vision for a new reality. 

"In a recent visit to Venice. I, knowing nothing about the conditions but just realizing that what is happening to it, in a disregard for the considerations that were made a long time ago about what can make Venice a bearing city in the middle of a body a water a lagoon which is this big compared to Venice which is that big. And it’s so related to the Adriatic that allows the shallow body of water which is a lagoon to be replenished as the tide flows in and out and wash away all that renews the water around Venice and keeps a kind of balance of all the foundations and the flat areas on which you walk. With the coming of industry land was needed near the lagoon. Channels were dug for large ships to come in causing more water to come in from the Adriatic, destroying the balance of this very low amount of water that came in and out. Venice breathes… the water is a kind of breathing system you see. Which made that Venice always eventful for whatever the time of day it was part. It was a kind of water architecture.It was in which the order of water was considered seriously. As should be the order of winds, the order of sun, the order of structure, the order of construction, the order of time, and the order of spaces, and the order of movement which are all the orders that must be considered when you’re building a town for instance.

You’re not designing. Designing is already knowing everything and what you’re doing when you’re designing is you’re simply sharpening up making eloquent the elements that must be considered.

Design is the last operation. And the one that can be assigned in many many avenues. Design isn’t something… it is especially of one man really. There it isn’t. but the realizations of the inseparable parts is the design of one. That which conceives the indestructible elements that must be there as against some other place where there are other elements. That is something which is the strongest part of a conception.

This can be known as composition as it is in music. You know, a musician when he reads a sheet of music, he doesn’t read all the little details. He reads the music as fast I would turn the page practically and he sort of realizes what it is all about by simply realizing the composition. And not the design aspects of it, which are the  infighting that goes in it to make this composition glorious, readable, and all that. Oh It’s a wonderful process. He wouldn’t hand it off to anybody else in the way but when people speak of having great teams on things. They can be designed in teams but provided you see there is some mind that never deviates from the inseparable parts which can be known the form of this building the form which means if you take one thing away nothing is there. Not just take it away and you have it still… you don’t. That could be part. That is a kind of order, an order of spaces which makes it so..

With all these problems in venice. The factories which are smoke belching and also all the waste that throws into the lagoon is causing a great imbalance of a lot of things just so many things you just think. If you just think of the most aggravated ecological problem, that’s it. You see… fish, fauna… everything and flora the water everything you can possibly imagine you see is disturbed by this there.

And you feel helpless. But you know as a newcomer. Humph. You don’t have the great responsibility, you’re not mayor of Venice. All of these things would tighten you up if you were mayor. you gotta talk to so many babies… and stuff so you have to you just sit back. And then just sit back and we just sort of sense that there be order, there must be an order to this, see and then you can see an order. It’s clear. You just build another Venice which is a factory. and it sits on an elevated platform with many sieves through the platform which allows the lagoon to replenish itself and not to allow land to be made without having things underneath the land you see. Let the water flow.

So you build yourself land which is just not land, that’s all. You can’t use the land there. The lagoon must have all the stretch it can so as not to make the tide rise too high on them. You lift it up and you set up an ecological government and you make this estate 3 times as big as it now. There should be no complaint to empowering the industrious. you leave them enough land to spread out. And then you set up a government, an ecological government in which every element you see is answerable to the ecological needs of Venice.

Because the land belongs to venice, so you set up an ecological government you see in this estate and you invent instruments which are called smoke eaters out of like which I have no idea what they would be but you turn to engineers to figure it out…  but the point is the you make this statement because you have to make the statement and you must not think of technology if it’s ready or not. You must think in terms of an inspired technology. You don’t have to limit yourself and not consider that you have to wait for technology to be on the scene. If you’re not the dictator in this technology what kind of an architect is that? and what kind of work is it that doesn’t inspire a technology?

So therefore you need to say something outlandish and let the engineers who have that kind of mind scurry around for the answers. There’s going to be the impossible. what is not made yet is important because we actually live our life with greater acuity when we don’t think of needs. It’s disgraceful not to give needs it’s your birth right to have needs. don’t think you’re doing anything if you’re supplying needs. but if you touch the avenues of your desire that which is contained the yet not made and yet not said then you’re talking like an artist and that’s the role of man.

And so the engineer has to be yours too. He doesn’t know it, but he has to be really nice he’s a textbook ringer. you know he brings the textbook for things and and the reason for it is quite simple because he’s a servant of people who designs buildings. I’m talking about structural engineers now because he works for many people. an engineer can work easily for 50 architects and every whim of the architects he tries to satisfy. therefore he is just a servant of the object. once in a while you get a peep out of him. But in most cases you see most cases he’ll say “look I don’t think you ought to do this in concrete because it’s much cheaper to do this building in brick.” Now he’s talking about another architect where he learned this thing you see but it doesn’t apply to your building which can’t tolerate it. You wonder what’s wrong with his mind? it’s only because his mind is completely razzled dazzled by the number of servants he must feed to satisfy all these people who must be satisfied.

so I suggested this and it seemed as though to say venice is terribly important I said “all the industry in the world isn’t worth one giotto.” I said “Why don’t you consider this is as not being a difficult money problem. If you would have the problems of venice any other way it would cost a lot more. you see what was considered an industry would like to be there. only the best play the game properly. when I heard also the only industry that is in venice actually belongs to milan because they don’t have land enough to go to venice you see and they don’t to spoil their own city so they spoil venice. So this power is very helpful because you know when you see the issue there you just love the death out of it.

That is one thing when considering building in Venice. they are thinking of doing and but designs constantly comes a stopping point because the buildings there  extremely charming and they’re very delicate, they’re lace like they’re unbelievable they’re just plain sheer exuberance all the buildings. Joy of living everything is there.

Now when you start to do your own scribbling and say it must be sympathetic to this you find that you‘ve go to be someone other than yourself. And I suggested in one portion of venice they build buildings on bridges none of them on the water, mind you. On the land, so the foundations are constant and the building are above and then you pick one area particularly where the bridges sort of group themselves in such a way that you get another piazza san marco probably somewhat larger but it could be a singleness from which you can see all around you as you can san marco. other places around venice you lose your way and that’s beautiful.

They never really would execute my design in venice… and I somehow wasn’t worried about it since you can’t trust this delicate lacy work to everybody. something has to happen in the establishment of a new order in venice which is not applicable in other places but is applicable there.

Now i’m sure it’s a dangerous thing that I suggested. it is my kind of way of stirring things up, but I think when I presented it, I didn’t feel accused in any way that I was playing truant or I was really doing venice wrong.

I hope nobody does it mind you but at least you shake venice into realizing something can be done. and so it was with the canals because the canals are not like Canalletto you see who visualized them full of festivity but why can’t you have boats which are restaurants? why can’t they be fantastic? you’re not going to Europe with those boats. you can make the canals live again just by new encouragements. it’s a wonderful place those things can happen. it’s very festive. now all these ideas you can put in the waste basket if you like. the point is that you’re stimulated by the problem and you’re thinking of it in terms of a new order but not a new design. something which can somehow be true to the water inspired architecture of Venice."