Tour the Salk with Ellen
This past Friday I was down in San Diego touring the city with architect Aaron Anderson of Studio Anderson. No modernist worth his salt would consider leaving San Diego without a visit to Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute in La Jolla, and, as I quickly gathered, no serious Salk fan would consider touring the building without Ellen.
She gives free public tours on Fridays, offers private tours on Saturdays, and has an abiding passion for the architecture, for Kahn, and for the research done at the Salk Center. What’s more, she’s bossy, funny, opinionated, and is ultimately less interested in passing on her views about the building’s structure than its soul. Though fluent in composition, concrete, and geometry, Ellen argues as strongly for Kahn the mystic as Kahn the architect.
Perhaps the best moment came when she took Anderson and I down a level, off of the main courtyard—Kahn’s “façade to the sky”—to look up at the stairwells, elevators, gutters, and overhangs. The blocky, pocked concrete was pure form, and as Ellen put it, “the best abstract painting that you’ll ever see.” She continued with one of her favorite anecdotes about her days as a tour guide:
Some time back she was giving a private tour to Japanese architect Tadao Ando and his interpreter. Ellen took him down to see her “abstract painting” and Ando looked up in utter reverence, and declared in English, “I am renewed.” Unflinching at the architect’s sense of awe, she retorted, “All this while you’re using a translator and now you come out with ‘I am renewed’? I know Americans who can’t speak like that!”
To arrange a tour of the Salk go to this website or call (858) 453-4100, ext 1287. Ask for Ellen.
Article
-
Review: Tadao Ando
The architecture of Tadao Ando seeks to connect the building with its surrounding. In Tadao Ando, a book recently published by Birkhauser, author Yann Nussaume attempts to explain the work of the…
Products
-
Louis I Kahn
When charting architectural development, it generally follows that architects build upon the generation that preceded them—from modernism to postmodernism to deconstruction and so on. Not so…
-
Hitch Marigold Stool
It's bright! It's versatile! It's affordable! We tried to think of a space where this handy little stool wouldn't fit, and that was a mighty tough task. Use Hitch as a bedside table, dining table…
Events
-
Mak Center Architecture Tour
This architecture tour will feature six modernist residences recorded by acclaimed architectural photographer Julius Shulman (1910-2009). Homes by R.M. Schindler, Richard Neutra, Pierre Koenig…
-
Neutra VDL Studio and Residences Lecture and Tour
A special tour of the Richard Neutra VDL Studio and Residences in Silver Lake. Hosted by de Lab, the evening will include a brief lecture by Leo Marmol, FAIA, of Marmol Radziner, followed by a…
-
Silverlake / Los Feliz Mid-Century Architecture Tour
The MAK Center will present its Architecture Tour 2009 by featuring seven mid-century residences dating from 1926 through 1964. The list of houses on the tour include: How House, R.M. Schindler…
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Related Products
-
Louis I Kahn
When charting architectural development, it…
-
Hitch Marigold Stool
It's bright! It's versatile! It's affordable…
Latest
-
02.09
An Architecture Guide to Pyongyang
German architect and writer Philipp Meuser realizes that…
-
02.08
Fair Chairs
We continue our coverage of the 2012 Stockholm Furniture and…
-
02.07
Seven from Stockholm Design Week
It's about mid-way through the 2012 Stockholm Design Week and…
Follow
Dwell
Reloading tweets…
Be the first to comment.
RSS Feed
Add a Comment