Abstract
The purpose of this comparative study is to analyze the characteristics of art museums of Louis I. Kahn. Kahn's main architectural thoughts of 'what it wants to be' and 'how it was done' act as a basis for this research. 'What it wants to be' means the existence of architecture and relates to the concept of 'room'. 'How it was done' shows the tectonic aspects of architecture and construction process to enhance its presence. Detailed items from these two thoughts applied to clarify the order in dynamics, the visualization of construction process, and the relationship between structure and light in the space of Kahn's art museums. Yale university art gallery was the first major project of Kahn and he showed tectonic characters through tetrahedral concrete slab. The unity of structure, space and light can be found in the Kimbell art museum through the vaulted structural unit. Yale center for British art is the best example of the concept of 'room' and 'tectonic' because it clearly shows the unity of spatial and structural system, and their relation to light. As a result, this study tries to find out that Kahn had consistently developed his thoughts of'room' and 'tectonic', and tried to keep them in his art museum designs.
