Meaning
The Salk Institute’s open environment teeming with empty space is symbolic of an open environment for creation, the symmetry stands for scientific precision, and submerging crevasses allow warm, natural light to enter the buildings like the intellectual light that leads to discovery. The contrast between balance and dynamic space manifests a pluralistic invitation for scientific study in structures developed to accommodate their respective functions as parts of a research facility. Although modern in appearance, it is essentially an isolated compound for individual and collaborative study not unlike monasteries as sanctuaries for religious discovery, and they directly influenced Kahn in his design. Ultimately, the Salk Institute’s meaning transcends function and physical place as a reflection of Western Civilization’s pursuit of truth through science instead of God: it is Louis Kahn’s masterpiece reinterpretation of the monastic “intellectual retreat” in our day and age.
Read more about this topic: Salk Institute For Biological Studies
Famous quotes containing the word meaning:
“All my life I believed I knew something. But then one strange day came when I realized that I knew nothing, yes, I knew nothing. And so words became void of meaning ... I have arrived too late at ultimate uncertainty.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“From man’s blood-sodden heart are sprung
Those branches of the night and day
Where the gaudy moon is hung.
What’s the meaning of all song?
“Let all things pass away.””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“I am very sorry to know and hear how unreverently that most precious jewel, the Word of God, is disputed, rhymed, sung and jangled in every ale-house and tavern, contrary to the true meaning and doctrine of the same.”
—Henry VIII (1491–1547)