Story:
Concrete Proof for Deliberate Decision Management

A deliberate and systematic decision methodology, which is displayed in stone and concrete through the course of Louis Kahn’s activities, may be a more significant contribution than the presence of the buildings physically and materially as objects of their circumstances. 

In retrospect, with the benefits of hindsight, several very clear patterns emerge out of the collection of buildings produced by Louis Kahn’s architectural office over an extended period of time. 

Where the architect’s concerns were consistently framed by material realities and idealized conceptual possibilities, the McKinsey scheme for organizational transformation is framed by business performance and business health, described in a well defined way.

The phases characterizing the architect’s endeavors stepped through mastery of basic practicality, technical process, social accommodation and powerful poetical expression.  The phases of the McKinsey methodology cover practical business action, business process architecture, condition evaluation assessment and overall business aspiration.  The sequencing of these different kinds of considerations is compatible.

There are four distinct categories.  Some of Louis Kahn’s projects mostly concern careful respect for the properties and capabilities of building materials.  Some projects mostly concern abstract, conceptual ideas, which in some cases may be impractical or almost unbuildable.  Some projects blend together both practical and conceptual qualities, with the practical aspects being most pronounced.  Some projects blend together both practical and conceptual qualities, with the conceptual qualities being most pronounced. 

The emphasis, about what type of considerations would be most important, changes over time.  Kahn’s early phase displays a motivation of wanting to be simple and direct with methods and materials.  The next phase demonstrates wanting to be effective and honest with structural and mechanical systems.  A subsequent phase emphasizes articulated accommodation of human interactions and social possibilities.    

The most accomplished, later phases celebrate integration of both technical and social requirements with a high degree of economy and efficiency, as well as physical presence and beauty. 

(Maybe some readers might think I am describing an Apple iPad here, and that comparison may not be completely untrue.)

The stages of awareness can be clearly tracked and delineated sequentially over time.       

What is really happening here?

Early during the twentieth century, the older building styles and methods were dismissed, and a new era of scientific and technical expression became most prevalent.  After the Second World War, a different set of priorities began to emerge.  Here the architecture of Louis Kahn takes on a singular importance.  Kahn scientifically examined and directed his own decision making process in a deliberate and systematic way.  What he was trying to do was often not well understood at the time.  He managed to build only about a dozen or so highly evocative singular buildings and building complexes, in many different parts of the world. 

It is sometimes said that medical doctors are lucky, because they can bury their mistakes. The same remark cannot be made about architecture.  Endurance becomes an unavoidable measure of meaning.

Everyone knows about famous historical buildings from the past.  These are often considered to represent important expressions about cultures and civilizations, conveying a wider human purpose beyond whatever conditions may have influenced the initial construction.

Historical awareness generally, and the efforts of the office of Louis Kahn particularly, can be associated with social evolution and human progress.  It is unnecessary for subsequent generations to repeat the same exercises in the same way.  Hard fought discoveries yield simpler solutions, as long as attention, understanding and acceptance can come around, with the proper course of time.