When listening to Kahn lecture about his Venice Congressional
Hall design, it’s as important to listen to what Kahn didn’t talk about as much
as what he did talk about. Kahn spent 6 years working on this proposal that would have spanned across the Canale delle Galeazze like a suspension bridge, with an expressed sloped post-tensioned concrete slab replete with two stair towers that would have risen from opposite banks of the canal. His proposal was ultimately rejected by city officials like Le Corbusier’s hospital, the Palazzo dei Congressi, because it didn’t work with the historical fabric of Venice.
From the onset of the project, Kahn had been warned by the city’s health commissioner, Vito Chiarelli that Venice had “innate inability to accept abstract forms embedded in its historic context,” but Kahn’s refused to compromise his vision.
Kahn does not
discuss the particulars of his Venice proposal, nor does he show any slides of it. Instead Kahn focuses on the
importance of looking beyond the current reality and looking at the fundamental
issues of a building project. At its heart, architecture is a dream… it changes
the way people use a site, it inspires structural and technological innovations
not yet realized. His design is a meditation on the evolution of a city, it’s a resolution
to the paradox of building on water that involves public agencies that didn’t exist, it’s a provocation and an uncompromising
solitary vision for a new reality.
“In a recent visit to Venice. I, knowing nothing about
the conditions but just realizing that what is happening to it, in a disregard
for the considerations that were made a long time ago about what can make Venice
a bearing city in the middle of a body a water a lagoon which is this big
compared to Venice which is that big. And it’s so related to the Adriatic that
allows the shallow body of water which is a lagoon to be replenished as the
tide flows in and out and wash away all that renews the water around Venice and
keeps a kind of balance of all the foundations and the flat areas on which you
walk. With the coming of industry land was needed near the lagoon. Channels
were dug for large ships to come in causing more water to come in from the
Adriatic, destroying the balance of this very low amount of water that came in
and out. Venice breathes… the water is a kind of breathing system you see.
Which made that Venice always eventful for whatever the time of day it was part.
It was a kind of water architecture.It was in which the order of water was
considered seriously. As should be the order of winds, the order of sun, the order
of structure, the order of construction, the order of time, and the order of
spaces, and the order of movement which are all the orders that must be considered
when you’re building a town for instance.
You’re not designing. Designing is already knowing everything
and what you’re doing when you’re designing is you’re simply sharpening up making
eloquent the elements that must be considered.
Design is the last operation. And the one that can be
assigned in many many avenues. Design isn’t something… it is especially of one
man really. There it isn’t. but the realizations of the inseparable parts is the
design of one. That which conceives the indestructible elements that must be
there as against some other place where there are other elements. That is
something which is the strongest part of a conception.
This can be known as composition as it is in music.
You know, a musician when he reads a sheet of music, he doesn’t read all the
little details. He reads the music as fast I would turn the page practically
and he sort of realizes what it is all about by simply realizing the
composition. And not the design aspects of it, which are the infighting that goes in it to make this
composition glorious, readable, and all that. Oh It’s a wonderful process. He
wouldn’t hand it off to anybody else in the way but when people speak of having
great teams on things. They can be designed in teams but provided you see there
is some mind that never deviates from the inseparable parts which can be known
the form of this building the form which means if you take one thing away nothing
is there. Not just take it away and you have it still… you don’t. That could be
part. That is a kind of order, an order of spaces which makes it so..
With all these problems in venice. The factories
which are smoke belching and also all the waste that throws into the lagoon is
causing a great imbalance of a lot of things just so many things you just
think. If you just think of the most aggravated ecological problem, that’s it.
You see… fish, fauna… everything and flora the water everything you can
possibly imagine you see is disturbed by this there.
And you feel helpless. But you know as a newcomer. Humph.
You don’t have the great responsibility, you’re not mayor of Venice. All of
these things would tighten you up if you were mayor. you gotta talk to so many
babies… and stuff so you have to you just sit back. And then just sit back and
we just sort of sense that there be order, there must be an order to this, see
and then you can see an order. It’s clear. You just build another Venice which
is a factory. and it sits on an elevated platform with many sieves through the platform
which allows the lagoon to replenish itself and not to allow land to be made
without having things underneath the land you see. Let the water flow.
So you build yourself land which is just not land, that’s
all. You can’t use the land there. The lagoon must have all the stretch it can so
as not to make the tide rise too high on them. You lift it up and you set up an
ecological government and you make this estate 3 times as big as it now. There should
be no complaint to empowering the industrious. you leave them enough land to spread
out. And then you set up a government, an ecological government in which every
element you see is answerable to the ecological needs of Venice.
Because the land belongs to venice, so you set up an
ecological government you see in this estate and you invent instruments which
are called smoke eaters out of like which I have no idea what they would be but
you turn to engineers to figure it out… but the point is the you make this statement because
you have to make the statement and you must not think of technology if it’s
ready or not. You must think in terms of an inspired technology. You don’t have
to limit yourself and not consider that you have to wait for technology to be
on the scene. If you’re not the dictator in this technology what kind of an
architect is that? and what kind of work is it that doesn’t inspire a
technology?
So therefore you need to say something outlandish
and let the engineers who have that kind of mind scurry around for the answers.
There’s going to be the impossible. what is not made yet is important because
we actually live our life with greater acuity when we don’t think of needs. It’s
disgraceful not to give needs it’s your birth right to have needs. don’t think
you’re doing anything if you’re supplying needs. but if you touch the avenues
of your desire that which is contained the yet not made and yet not said then
you’re talking like an artist and that’s the role of man.
And so the engineer has to be yours too. He doesn’t
know it, but he has to be really nice he’s a textbook ringer. you know he brings
the textbook for things and and the reason for it is quite simple because he’s
a servant of people who designs buildings. I’m talking about structural engineers
now because he works for many people. an engineer can work easily for 50
architects and every whim of the architects he tries to satisfy. therefore he
is just a servant of the object. once in a while you get a peep out of him. But
in most cases you see most cases he’ll say “look I don’t think you ought to do
this in concrete because it’s much cheaper to do this building in brick.” Now he’s
talking about another architect where he learned this thing you see but it doesn’t
apply to your building which can’t tolerate it. You wonder what’s wrong with his
mind? it’s only because his mind is completely razzled dazzled by the number of
servants he must feed to satisfy all these people who must be satisfied.
so I suggested this and it seemed as though to say
venice is terribly important I said “all the industry in the world isn’t worth
one giotto.” I said “Why don’t you consider this is as not being a difficult
money problem. If you would have the problems of venice any other way it would
cost a lot more. you see what was considered an industry would like to be there.
only the best play the game properly. when I heard also the only industry that
is in venice actually belongs to milan because they don’t have land enough to
go to venice you see and they don’t to spoil their own city so they spoil
venice. So this power is very helpful because you know when you see the issue there
you just love the death out of it.
That is one thing when considering building in Venice.
they are thinking of doing and but designs constantly comes a stopping point because
the buildings there extremely charming
and they’re very delicate, they’re lace like they’re unbelievable they’re just
plain sheer exuberance all the buildings. Joy of living everything is there.
Now when you start to do your own scribbling and
say it must be sympathetic to this you find that you‘ve go to be someone other than
yourself. And I suggested in one portion of venice they build buildings on bridges
none of them on the water, mind you. On the land, so the foundations are
constant and the building are above and then you pick one area particularly where
the bridges sort of group themselves in such a way that you get another piazza
san marco probably somewhat larger but it could be a singleness from which you can
see all around you as you can san marco. other places around venice you lose
your way and that’s beautiful.
They never really would execute my design in venice…
and I somehow wasn’t worried about it since you can’t trust this delicate lacy
work to everybody. something has to happen in the establishment of a new order
in venice which is not applicable in other places but is applicable there.
Now i’m sure it’s a dangerous thing that I suggested.
it is my kind of way of stirring things up, but I think when I presented it, I didn’t
feel accused in any way that I was playing truant or I was really doing venice
wrong.
I hope nobody does it mind you but at least you shake
venice into realizing something can be done. and so it was with the canals because
the canals are not like Canalletto you see who visualized them full of
festivity but why can’t you have boats which are restaurants? why can’t they be
fantastic? you’re not going to Europe with those boats. you can make the canals
live again just by new encouragements. it’s a wonderful place those things can
happen. it’s very festive. now all these ideas you can put in the waste basket
if you like. the point is that you’re stimulated by the problem and you’re thinking
of it in terms of a new order but not a new design. something which can
somehow be true to the water inspired architecture of Venice.”
