Richards Medical Research Laboratories - History

History

When the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., decided it needed a new medical research building, the dean of fine arts recommended Louis Kahn, a highly regarded professor of architecture on the faculty there who had been exploring new approaches for Modern architecture. Kahn received the commission for the building in 1957, and it was completed in 1960. It was named the Alfred Newton Richards Medical Research Laboratories Building in honor of a noted researcher and former chairman of the Department of Pharmacology. It quickly received widespread acclaim from the architectural community but also criticism from the scientists who occupied it.

Completed when Kahn was almost 60, this was his first work to achieve international acclaim. In 1961 the Museum of Modern Art sponsored an exhibition devoted exclusively to it, describing it in a brochure as "probably the single most consequential building constructed in the United States since the war." In 1962, Vincent Scully, an influential professor of architecture, called it "one of the greatest buildings of modern times."

The David Goddard Laboratories were also designed by Louis Kahn and were completed in 1965. Although considered to be separate buildings by the university, the Richards and Goddard Laboratories are physically connected and, with similar designs, have the appearance of being a single unit. The Goddard building is generally treated by architectural historians simply as the second phase of the Richards project. It was named in honor of David Rockwell Goddard, a professor of Botany who also served as university provost and who was the main force in planning and raising funds for it.

The Richards Medical Research Laboratories and the David Goddard Laboratories were together declared a National Historic Landmark on January 16, 2009. They are also contributing properties to the University of Pennsylvania Campus Historic District.