Research on Louis Kahn

Design:
Working with simple materials, notably brick and concrete. Kahn applied his principles to create buildings instilled with the spiritual qualities for which he strove through a masterful sense of space and light. Kahn combined visually compelling spaces with drama as the changing light transformed the sensory experience of being in the building at different times of the day and night. In terms of injecting Kahn's spirit into our own warehouse project we are looking at incorporating the circular and geometric shapes used in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, into the concrete walls. Below are images used as a source of inspiration for our design.
Construction:
We are using concrete as our primary material and there are a number of construction methods that can be adapted to incorporate Kahn's ideals. The best alternative solution to steel portal frames is a concrete load-bearing wall with a lightweight roof. This is a very straightforward design and construction approach that can be easily adapted. The load-bearing walls can be either propped or cantilevered. For the propped wall, the stability comes initially from push-pull props. When the roof is complete the props are removed as the roof then provides the propping force and takes the horizontal loads back to the flank walls. For the cantilevered option, the walls cantilever from the base and do not need any propping or reliance on the on the roof for stability.The construction of the roof is also simplified with concrete walls as, unlike with steel portal frames, the roof beams are simply supported on the walls. The spacing of the roof beams could be optimised as they would not be reliant on the portal frame spacing. Roofs may be light or heavyweight. A heavyweight roof would provide extra thermal insulation and mass.