Timely Timelessness: Traditional Proportions and Modern Practice in Kahn’s Kimbell Museum

Abstract

The twentieth century witnessed declining interest in architectural proportioning systems, which were virtually eclipsed by technical, social and fiscal agendas. Louis Kahn is a seminal architect, whose most acclaimed building, the Kimbell Art Museum (1966–72), represents a compelling case-study in the use proportions by twentieth-century architects. In spite of a raft of peculiarly modern restrictions (both technological and programmatic), Kahn appears – despite his espoused ambivalence concerning proportion – to have intentionally produced a building with an array of approximate geometrical as well as precise harmonic proportions.