Kahn e i suoi archetipi

The inclusive principle, and the wall principle in particular, constitute one of the foundations of Louis Kahn's theoretical and construction work. From the primordial meaning of delimitation and the separation of different regions of space, the "wall' in Kahn’s works acquires further and more sophisticated qualities, becoming a diaphragm, consisting of sequences of different wall principles: an ‘inhabited’ or inhabitable wall, a spatial interspace. In other cases the wall principle is a device which determines the "poetic" relationship between "light" and "silence". In other works and theoretical thinking, the wall principle is deformed to the point where it accommodates inhabitable spaces within it, genuine "rooms", with or without roofs, based on the original idea of a column which expands to include space. For Kahn, a column, a sequence of columns, and a wall all belong to the same device and principle.