mBdm[~V,l~-'l|kK:-],,l[~-I~l[*"~-llll[,],ld~Ji Dirk Huylebrouck, Editor]

ouis I. Kahn (1901-1974), o n e of crete buildings. Kahn's work shows his

Cycloids in L the most outstanding m o d e r n
~American architects, is noted tk)r
great reverence R)r making accessible
the value of clear structural systems, ma-

Louis I. the use of simple geometric forms a n d

spatial compositions in massive con-
terials a n d light. Pushing the structural
systems a n d materials to their b o u n d -

Kahn's
Kimbell Art
Museum at
Fort Worth,
Texas
JIN-HO PARK, YONGSUN Joo,
AND JAE-GUEN YANG

Does y o u r h o m e t o w n h a v e a n y
m a t h e m a t i c a l tourist attractions such
as statues, plaques, graves, the cafd
w h e r e the f a m o u s conjecture w a s
made, the desk w h e r e the f a m o u s
initials are scratched, birthplaces,
houses, or m e m o r i a l s ? H a v e y o u
e n c o u n t e r e d a m a t h e m a t i c a l sight on
y o u r travels? I f so, w e invite y o u to
s u b m i t a n essay to this column. Be
sure to include a picture, a
description o f its m a t h e m a t i c a l
significance, a n d either a m a p or
directions so t h a t others m a y f o l l o w
in y o u r tracks.

Please send all submissions to

Mathematical Tourist Editor,
Dirk Huylebrouck, Aartshertogstraat 42,
8400 Oostende, Belgium
e-maih dirk.huylebrouck@ping.be Figure I. Exterior views on the Kimbell Art Museum.

42 THE MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCER 9 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc

 aries is o n e of the essential c o m p o n e n t s plan. with cycloid vaults, a n d that was trance court passes b e t w e e n the por-
of his architectural approach. Kahn also the design that was executed. ticos a n d their pools with a f o u n t a i n
sought to optimize natural light for the The imposing structure o p e n e d four a r o u n d w h i c h o n e sits, o n a n axis
occupants of the building. years later, in O c t o b e r 4, 1972. The mu- d e s i g n e d to be the s o u r c e of the por-
Born o n the island of Saaremaa, Es- s e u m incorporates the slope of the site tico pools. The west l a w n gives the
tonia, in 1901, Kahn emigrated to the a n d has entrances at both the l o w e r a n d building perspective.
United States a n d practiced there until u p p e r levels. Public access for pedes- Kahn continues:
his death in 1974. A m o n g his best- trians is offered o n the west side, at the The south g a r d e n is at a level 10 feet
k n o w n b u i l d i n g s is the Kimbell Art Mu- u p p e r level, w h e r e a s the p a r k i n g lots b e l o w the g a r d e n e n t r a n c e ap-
s e u m in Fort Worth, Texas (1966-1972), are located on the east side, at the lower p r o a c h e d by gradual s t e p p e d l a w n s
o n e of the m o s t - a d m i r e d architectural level (accessed from Arch Adams s l o p e d to b e a place to sit to w a t c h
pieces of the time. Other masterpieces Street). There is a central axis passing the p e r f o r m a n c e of a play, m u s i c or
are the Salk Institute in California (USA), through the front a n d the rear en- dance, the b u i l d i n g with its a r c h e d
the I n d i a n Institute of M a n a g e m e n t in trances, the l o b b y a n d the stairs; two silhouette acting as the b a c k d r o p of
A h m e d a b a d (India), a n d the National water pools outside the porticos are a stage. W h e n not so in u s e it will
Assembly at Dacca (Bangladesh). symmetric too, along that axis. This ax- s e e m only as a g a r d e n w h e r e sculp-
The Kimbell m u s e u m sits o n the ial approach is typical of K a h n ' s de- ture a c q u i r e d from time to time
gentle slope of the A m o n Carter Square signs. O n June 25, 1969, he wrote, in a w o u l d be. The north g a r d e n , t h o u g h
Park, a b o u t two miles from d o w n t o w n letter to Mrs. Kimbell {lohnson 1975]: mostly utilitarian, is d e s i g n e d with
Fort Worth (Figure 1). The structure, T w o o p e n porticos flank the en- a m p l e trees to shield a n d b a l a n c e
covering a gross area of 120,000 square trance court of terrace. In front of the south and north sides of the
feet, lies in a t r a p e z o i d - s h a p e d area of each portico is a reflecting pool building.
9.5 acres, b o u n d e d by Camp Bowie which drops its water in a c o n t i n u - The series of 16 structural units with
Blvd., Arch A d a m s St., a n d West Lan- ous sheet a b o u t 70 feet l o n g in a their vaulted roof are s u p p o r t e d inde-
caster Ave. T h e r e are a n u m b e r of cul- basin two feet below. The s o u n d p e n d e n t l y a n d clustered with preserva-
tural institutions in the vicinity: the w o u l d be gentle. The s t e p p e d en- tion of their i n d e p e n d e n t structural
A m o n Carter M u s e u m of Western Art,
the Fort Worth M u s e u m of Science a n d
Histow, and, directly opposite the Kim-
bell, along Arch Adams St., the n e w
Modern Art M u s e u m of Fort Worth (Fig-
ures 2 a n d 3).
The Kimbell Art M u s e u m is h o m e to
o n e of the world's finest art collections,
with acquisitions ranging from antiquity
to the twentieth c e n t u r y [Loud, 1987].
A m o n g the interesting architectural fea-
tures of the b u i l d i n g are the u n i q u e
vault roofs, w h i c h exhibit a rare exam-
pie of a strategic use of the mathemat-
ical properties of the cycloid [Gast,
1998; Benedikt, 1991]. An art m u s e u m
with a mathematical property: could a
mathematical tourist ask for more?

A Man, a Plan: Kahn

Kahn started the design for the Kimbell
in 1967, arriving at his final scheme
around September 1968. August
K o m e n d a n t , Kahn's structural engineer,
describes this p e r i o d as "very difficult
and agonizing." The design process
s e e m e d to have b e e n an ordeal for
Kahn: the first s c h e m e was a square
plan, with a circulatory street, a n arcade
a r o u n d the complex, a n d polygonal
ceilings. The s e c o n d plan was an H-
shape, with two c o n n e c t e d structures
covered by a w a l k w a y a n d curved Figure 2. Partial map of Fort Worth, Texas, showing the location of the Kimbell Art
roofs. The final layout was a C-type Museum.

(3 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc., Volume 29, Number 2, 2007 4.3

Figure 3. Site plan of the Kimbell Art Museum.
character. At the s a m e time, e a c h vault
is a n i n s e p a r a b l e e l e m e n t o f the w h o l e ,
m a k i n g the o r d e r in the c o m p o s i t i o n
clear: the Kahn a p p r o a c h .
These structural elements are
g r o u p e d on a tripartite s c h e m e , w i t h
northern, central, a n d s o u t h e r n parts.
W h e r e a s e a c h of the north a n d the
s o u t h parts has six vaults, the central
part b e t w e e n t h e m has four vaults. The
p e r m a n e n t collection, an auditorium, a
cafe a n d the galleries o c c u p y the north-
e r n part. The central part, with o n l y four
vaults, p r o v i d e s an e n t r a n c e court in
w h i c h e v e n the trees are a r r a n g e d in an
o r d e r l y fashion. It i n c l u d e s the m a i n en-
t r a n c e hall, the lobby, a b o o k s t o r e , the
n m s e u m shop, a n d the library. T h e
s o u t h e r n part h o l d s galleries for tem-
p o r a r y exhibitions, the r e c e p t i o n hall,
a n d a kitchen. All are a r r a n g e d a r o u n d
a large o p e n b l o c k d e d i c a t e d to staff fa-
cilities including offices, shops, storage,
c o n s e r v a t i o n a n d p h o t o g r a p h y studios,
44 THE MATHEMATICALINTELLIGENCER
a n d w o r k p l a c e s for s h i p p i n g and re-
ceiving (Figure 4). The three courts are
all o p e n to the sky a n d allow natural
light into the m u s e u m . The largest
square court on the n o r t h e r n side bor-
ders the cafd, while two smaller square
courts are located on the south (Figure
5): o n e is t w o stories high so that the
light p e n e t r a t e s to the floor below-, to
the conservator's studio. Kahn p r o v i d e s
an a c c o u n t of his intent for having sep-
arate g a r d e n s and n a m i n g each court
separately [Latour 1991]:
A d d e d to the sky light from the slit
o v e r the exhibit rooms, I cut across
the vaults, at a right angle, a coun-
t e r p o i n t o f courts, o p e n to the sky,
of calculated d i m e n s i o n s a n d char-
acter, m a r k i n g t h e m G r e e n Court,
Y e l l o w Court, Blue Court, n a m e d for
the k i n d of light that I anticipate
their proportions, their foliation, or
their sky reflections on surfaces, or
o n w a t e r will give.
The Cycloid Choice
The m o s t distinctive d e s i g n e l e m e n t
o f the m u s e u m is the series o f s i x t e e n
parallel c y c l o i d vaults. K a h n d i d not
arrive at the c y c l o i d r o o f at the b e g i n -
ning of the d e s i g n p r o c e s s ; it w a s
d e t e r m i n e d after a series o f trials in
c o l l a b o r a t i o n with K o m e n d a n t a n d
Marshall D. Meyers, project m a n a g e r
for the m u s e u m :
Kahn's p r e s e n t a t i o n in J u n e h a d pro-
p o s e d a s e m i c i r c u l a r ceiling, w h i c h
B r o w n h a d f o u n d ostentatious a n d
thus, d i c t a t e d b y its g e o m e t r y , too
high. Kahn's r e s p o n s e in S e p t e m b e r
had b e e n a flattened arch, w h i c h
met B r o w n ' s r e q u i r e m e n t s but was
not particularly graceful. Meyers had
e x p l o r e d the possibilities of a flat
r o o f with q u a r t e r - r o u n d edges, el-
lipses, a n d s e g m e n t e d circles, n o n e
of w h i c h p r o v e d u p to the task."
[Leslie, 2005]
Rather than using the equations of a cy-
cloid, tile design was m a d e using a sim-
ple drawing of the curve generated by a
point on a rolling circle, as s h o w n in Fig-
ure 6. The rhythmic sequential cycloid
structure is easily recognized from a dis-
tance. Each vault consists of 100 • 23
foot shells p o u r e d in place by post-ten-
sioning cables and reinforced concrete,
and sheathed by a calcium-lead layer.
The roofs are a b o u t six feet apart, sepa-
rated b y flat-roofed channels for air con-
ditioning a n d electrical distribution ducts.
The height of a vault from the u p p e r level
is 20 feet a n d the height from the lower
level is 40 feet. Each concrete cycloid
vault is s u p p o r t e d b y four 2 X 2 foot
corner concrete piers, thus providing
column-free spaces (Figures 7 and 8).
Seeing Cycloid Light
Each vault has a longitudinal 2 1 / S o o t
n a r r o w slit at the roof, o v e r the entire
length o f the structure, c o v e r e d by
acrylic Plexiglas. Perforated metal re-
flectors are installed u n d e r the light slit
of the c y c l o i d vault. Kahn's series of
sketches s h o w an evolution, in which
he e x p e r i m e n t e d with various relation-
ships b e t w e e n r o o f s h a p e s and light re-
flectors (see Figure 9). The cycloid
vaults a n d the lighting reflectors w e r e
carefully d e s i g n e d to control the qual-
ity a n d intensity of daylight in the mu-
seum. K a h n writes ]Johnson, 1975]:
The s c h e m e of e n c l o s u r e of the mu-
s e u m is a s u c c e s s i o n of cycloid

10 11
4 6
3 ,A.
U~
zQ
16
Jl
Figure 4. Galle W level (top) and lower level floor plan (bottom) of the m u s e u m (re-
drawn by the authors). [Key: 1. portico, 2. entrance hall, 3. gallery, 4. kitchen, 5. con-
servator's court, 6. north court, 7. fountain court. 8. gallery, 9. two-storied conserva-
tor's studio, 10. snack bar, 11. bookshop. 12. shop, 13. offices and laboratories, 14.
east entrance, 15. mechanical room, 16. shipping and receiving]
vauhs each of a single s p a n [100] tee{
long a n d [23] feet wide, each form-
ing the r o o m s with a n a r r o w slit to
the sky, with a m i r r o r e d s h a p e to
spread natural light o n the side of
the vault. This light will give a glow
of silver to the r o o m w i t h o u t touch-
ing the objects directly, yet give the
comforting feeling of k n o w i n g the
time of day.
The natural light was a n integral part
of the program for the m u s e u m design
from the b e g i n n i n g [Loud 1987]. The
Kimbell's first director, Richard Brown,
was especially c o n c e r n e d that "natural
light should play a vital part in illumi-
nation." It m a y be c o n v e n t i o n a l k n o w l -
12
2
1 with a s p a n of 100 ft, s u p p o r t e d b y four
ENT
.......................................... q
1 UJL~
13
edge that natural light distracts the
visual e x p e r i e n c e of viewers in a mu-
seum, but Kahn s u c c e e d e d in using
natural light as the m a i n source for
lighting the m u s e u m galleries. Natural
light penetrates t h r o u g h the slit in the
vault a n d reflects off the mirrored shape
of the convex perforated metal reflec-
tors back to the side of the interior vault
and then diffuses to the exhibition
room, as s h o w n in Figure 10. Kahn de-
scribes 'the l u m i n o s i t y of solver' of the
perforated metal reflectors with cycloid
vaults as follows:
9 . . rather a n e w w a y of calling
something; it is rather a n e w w o r d
entirely. It is actually a modifier of
9 2007 Springer Science ~Business Media, inc., Volume 29, Number 2, 2007
the light, sufficiently so that the in-
jurious effects of the light are con-
trolled to w h a t e v e r d e g r e e of c o n -
trol is n o w possible. [Johnson 1975].
Unusual Computational
Complications
The key to the m u s e u m d e s i g n is the
structural n o v e l t y of the cycloid roof,
corner columns. The m o n o l i t h i c struc-
ture is only four inches thick, so thin it
l o o k e d "fragile," e v e n to K a h n himself.
The roof, with its l o n g i t u d i n a l 21/2 foot
n a r r o w slit at the apex of each vault, is
braced by cross concrete struts every 10
feet, transferring the load a l o n g the
vault, longitudinally a n d vertically, to
the l o w e r c o r n e r of the vault a n d to the
four c o r n e r colunms. As s h o w n in Fig-
ure 11, the forces of the l o n g i t u d i n a l
load are a b s o r b e d in two ways by three
post-tensioning cables, a t e c h n i q u e com-
m o n l y e m p l o y e d to i m p r o v e the load-
b e a r i n g properties of concrete b y in-
corporating high-tensile steel stretched
cables into the structure. T h e di-
a p h r a g m s at the e n d a b s o r b the forces
of the vertical load.
Traditionally, a barrel roof c a n b e
s u p p o r t e d along the longitudinal edges
or o n the curved ends. W h e n a barrel
is s u p p o r t e d along the l o n g i t u d i n a l
edges, it b e h a v e s like a row of arches,
o n e next to the other, d e v e l o p i n g hori-
zontal forces p u s h i n g o u t w a r d a n d ab-
sorbed by buttress walls. W h e n a barrel
vault is s u p p o r t e d o n its curved ends, it
b e h a v e s like a b e a m c o n v e y i n g the load
to the walls at the e n d a n d to the g r o u n d
(Salvadori, 1980)9 However, in the Kim-
bell Art M u s e u m design, the structure
of the roof is p u s h e d b e y o n d the con-
v e n t i o n a l k n o w l e d g e of typical vault
structures. K a h n ' s design e m p l o y s a n
u n c o n v e n t i o n a l mixture of t e c h n i q u e s
using those complicated p o s t - t e n s i o n -
ing cables a n d diaphragms. It s e e m s
K o m e n d a n t ' s c o n t r i b u t i o n to the cy-
cloid structure for the m u s e u m was es-
sential ( K o m e n d a n t , 1975; Leslie, 2005).
Mathematicians have long admired
the distinctive properties of the cycloid,
a n d more generally of the cycloid fam-
ily, including epicycloids, hypocycloids,
epitrochoids, hypotrochoids, or car-
dioids. The length of o n e arch of a cy-
cloid is ~r times the diameter of the
rolling circle, while the area u n d e r the
arch is three times the area of the circle.
 Figure 5. Fountain court with garden water fountain (see Figure 4).

Figure 6. The generation of the cycloid (after Louis I. Kahn).

46 THE MATHEMATICALINTELLIGENCER
 Figure 7. Section and elevation of the museum (left) and a joint where roof and corner column meet (right).

Figure 8. Detailed photo showing the roof structure of the m u s e u m (left), and
porticos with a side access path and reflecting pool (right).

Figure 9. A series of Kahn's preliminary sketches for the roof, made in 1967, and how the light should infiltrate (Redrawn
by the author).

Figure I0. A gallery, showing the transparent ceiling reflector (left), and a cafe and
gallery areas, showing the north garden court with Maillol's "L'Air" (right).

9 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc., Volume 29, Number 2, 2007 47

 coid roof design a n d the natural light
--~1.
.
9 . 9 , 9
.
. . . . .
~
- 9
9
_ 9 '
,
.
-
..1
..
fixture of the m u s e u m in o n l y o n e other
building, the Wolfson Center for Me-
chanical a n d Transportation Engineer-
ing (1968-1977) o n the university cam-
pus of Tel Aviv.
a

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
A"1 We thank Kazi Ashiraf for allowing the
. 9 .. 9 . ..
~. :..,....:....:....:,'..!,:.......:..:'.........-.....:~ use of his Kimbell M u s e u m photographs
in this article. This work was supported
:":; :i :: :i: ::i :; ~i:i:ij~!,':: : by an Inha University research grant.
l : : ~ ; : : : . " ~ : :J.-: !- ":~: ~. : :-,7.-~:~;.:~: -:",:".' . [ . :. ::
REFERENCES
The Kimbell Art Museum website: http://www.
.... i+ I- tt --I --I - kimbellart.org/
I" .':"" " - ::" ... ...,:.: ." . , : . ' " 9 ..'...: ' .:.''. t.:. :'... .',~. . . ... Benedikt, Michael. 1991. Deconstructing The
i .~::. ".:...' :..~ .:.-.......:.. :.-: ..-. ...;. , 9 ....~ ..........-.: .. .. Kimbell. New York: Sites Books.
I : ' : " ..:..'-'. .": :' . ,': . . - , . " . . ' : , . ' : - ' , ' : . . . ' . . ' . , ~ " . , '..':. .".'-.' ' -
I-.':.. "..:... ~ . " - :..:'. : . " . : . ~.'" :~. "..::. :.".::'." "..7.. . "
Brownlee, David B., and De Long, David G.
~,!:::,71!-i:":'i:!i :i/:'::'!:':i:"i :):i, :.,'[ i 1991. Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Archi-
tecture. New York: Rizzoli International Pub-
b -2' -}' L/2 = 50' lications.
A'J B'-I Buttiker, Urs. 1994. Louis I. Kahn: Light and
Space. New York: Whitney Library of Design.
Gast, Klaus-Peter. 1998. Louis I. Kahn: The
Ideal Order. Basel, Switzerland: Birkh~user.
Johnson, Nell E. 1975. Light is the Theme:
Cables \ Louis I. Kahn and The Kimbell Art Museum.
Fort Worth: Kimbell Art Museum.

:2 ii!i:i!! cabe,, :.:,:...:....., ::-: " '

Komendant, August E. 1975. 18 Years withAr-
chitect Louis I. Kahn. Englewood, NJ: Aloray
Publisher.
Latour, Alessandra. Intro and ed., 1991. Louis
I. Kahn: Writings, Lectures, Interviews. New
York: Rizzoli International Publications.
C

A-A' I B-B'
Leslie, Thomas. 2005. Louis I. Kahn: Building
F i g u r e I I. Structural details of the cycloid shell (after August Komendant), (a) Par- Art, Building Science. New York: George
tial side elevation of the cycloid roof, with post-tensioning cables; (b) Partial plan,
Braziller, Inc.
where post-tensioning cables are installed; (c) End of a roof with a glass separa-
Loud, Patricia Cummings. 1987. In Pursuit of
tion and walls (A-A'), and a cross-section (B-B').
Quality," The Kimbell Art Museum: An Illus-
trated History of the Art and Architecture.
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX.
T h e cycloid shape of the Kimbell Art space form e m b o d y i n g a mathematical Ronner, Heinz, and Jhaverti, Sharad. 1987.
M u s e u m is p e r h a p s the most singular curve into a physical building. Kahn Louis I. Kahn: Complete Work 1935-1974.
e x a m p l e ever a p p l i e d in b u i l d i n g u s e d different types of arcs such as cir- Basel, Switzerland: Birkh~user.
design. The visitor feels the full effect cle, semi-circle, and circle sectors in Salvadori, Marie. 1980. Why Buildings Stand
of a quintessentially dignified cycloid other buildings, but he repeated his cyl- Up. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Jin-Ho Park Yongsun Joe Jae-Guen Yang

Inha University Kyodo Architects & Associates Inha University
Department of Architecture 9-9 NIK Bldg., Sanei-cho, Shinjuku-ku Department of Architecture
and Architectural Engineering Tokyo 160-0008 Japan and Architectural Engineering
253 Yonghyun-dong, Nam-gu e-mail: yongsunjoe@yahoo.co.kr 253 Yonghyun-dong, Nam-gu
Deoul 136-701 Korea Incheon 402-751 Korea
e-mail: jinhopark@inha.ac.kr e-mail: protobe@inha.ac.kr

48 THE MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCER