It is so satisfying to be here at the Yale art Center. Is it because of the space, mood, people, or what? The space is so inviting, people are waiting to help, one can sit at leisure and read, or just stare outside. Even as others talk, one is not disturbed...how is all of it possible? Is it the genius of the architect in choreographing a space as perfect as this? Is it about the weather or is it about my mental frame of mind right now. I donot know. But this space is so mentally comforting.
To talk about the architecture of this building would be little like recounting tenets of modernist practice and remembering Louis Kahn. The building is extremely simple with a clear distinction between served and serviced spaces. The service core in the centre of the building divides it into two huge chunks of space on each floor that are dedicated to various themes . The segregation of subjects is clean. The place is brilliantly detailed. Absolutely pleasant to see everything just perfect. Nothing disturbs the eye and yet catches your attention. No object competes with another. All lie in peace. The signage is extremely customised and adds to the objects by raising, tilting or shifting their centers of gravity. Thus one also learns about the structure of any sculptural remain on display, completing an imaginary part picture into the whole.
The building merges with its surroundings on one edge through its sunken sculpture gardens. One of these holds Richard Serra's iron slabs. Something that i think will look better when it snows. Right now it is mundane.
The construction of the ceiling structure is not as simple as it looks. The triangular mesh is actually tetrahedral. This means that all beams are angled to form tetrahedral cauffers allowing services to pass through empty spaces that get created on the reverse. Also one of the three axis in which the beams are laid is thicker than the other two. Thus there is a careful hierarchy of beam sizes. On an otherwise superficial look, the structure appears only a simple intersection of vertical beams in 3 axis. One of the books on LIK that I am reading right now at the centre says that LIk may have retained such construction for its sculptural appeal, but when he found a way of hiding the services behind this mesh, he could defend the structure more validly.
The space has a decent collection. Something that I really enjoyed was the South African masks and artefacts. Each piece of it was beautifully crafted and amazingly abstract. This is probably the first time I got to see African folk art so closely and I am completely impressed by it - although I always believed that African art would be much richer. As compared to Asian art, I found African art to be more imaginative, abstract and 'crazy'! It was lovely to see how masks were made using visual imaginations of shapes that appear out of everyday life - cut tree branches, hay, cloth, horns, etc.
I must visit this space again. It has lot of stories to tell. And I am captivated by the crisp display design of this place. Something that I will try to document for my future study.
The Yale Art Center has been designed by Louis I Kahn. The building opposite, ie, the British Art Center too is designed by him.
To talk about the architecture of this building would be little like recounting tenets of modernist practice and remembering Louis Kahn. The building is extremely simple with a clear distinction between served and serviced spaces. The service core in the centre of the building divides it into two huge chunks of space on each floor that are dedicated to various themes . The segregation of subjects is clean. The place is brilliantly detailed. Absolutely pleasant to see everything just perfect. Nothing disturbs the eye and yet catches your attention. No object competes with another. All lie in peace. The signage is extremely customised and adds to the objects by raising, tilting or shifting their centers of gravity. Thus one also learns about the structure of any sculptural remain on display, completing an imaginary part picture into the whole.
The building merges with its surroundings on one edge through its sunken sculpture gardens. One of these holds Richard Serra's iron slabs. Something that i think will look better when it snows. Right now it is mundane.
The construction of the ceiling structure is not as simple as it looks. The triangular mesh is actually tetrahedral. This means that all beams are angled to form tetrahedral cauffers allowing services to pass through empty spaces that get created on the reverse. Also one of the three axis in which the beams are laid is thicker than the other two. Thus there is a careful hierarchy of beam sizes. On an otherwise superficial look, the structure appears only a simple intersection of vertical beams in 3 axis. One of the books on LIK that I am reading right now at the centre says that LIk may have retained such construction for its sculptural appeal, but when he found a way of hiding the services behind this mesh, he could defend the structure more validly.
The space has a decent collection. Something that I really enjoyed was the South African masks and artefacts. Each piece of it was beautifully crafted and amazingly abstract. This is probably the first time I got to see African folk art so closely and I am completely impressed by it - although I always believed that African art would be much richer. As compared to Asian art, I found African art to be more imaginative, abstract and 'crazy'! It was lovely to see how masks were made using visual imaginations of shapes that appear out of everyday life - cut tree branches, hay, cloth, horns, etc.
I must visit this space again. It has lot of stories to tell. And I am captivated by the crisp display design of this place. Something that I will try to document for my future study.
The Yale Art Center has been designed by Louis I Kahn. The building opposite, ie, the British Art Center too is designed by him.
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| My Study of the ceiling |
1 comment:
I am waiting for more documentation...but i think you'll get busy..
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