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Silence And Light By Louis Khan Philosophy Essay

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Philosophy
Wordcount: 2079 words Published: 1st Jan 2015

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According to the main idea of Silence and Light, Louis Khan has described Architecture is a meeting place between measurable and measurable. And the art of design isn’t only embedded in the aesthetic form, but it is in the soul of work. In his dialogue on “Silence and Light” main elements of Architecture are described according to his own perception. The way he looks at the world, the nature is wonderful.

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Firstly he says about “Joy”. He believes that first of all feel of joy is important to start any work. What makes him joy and he realize that an impelling force is comes out with joy itself. Joy was in every component of our creation. Joy was the essence and the force of creativity. We can’t put the first step to do any kind of work without thinking of joy to doing that. He says that no one can make a building unless they are joyously engaged.

Then he talks about wonder in beauty. And he believes that there is no connection between wonder and knowledge. And it has nothing to perform with knowledge. It is a first reaction to the intuitive; the intuitive is an odyssey, or an evidence of an odyssey. He doesn’t believe that one thing happening at one time and another happening at a different time. All started in one way, at same time and there were no time either: it just merely was there. Louis Khan further describes the feeling of wonder as similar to the feeling that an astronaut must have felt while he saw the earth by large distance. And he says that he follows the astronaut and feels it as same.

The more deeply something is occupied in the unmeasurable, the more deeply thing has this lasting value. So we can’t reject the great works of art as they are born out of unmeasurable.What we feel is just Wonder. It is not knowledge or knowing. Knowledge is not as important as our sense of Wonder; it is a great feeling with no obligation, with no reservation and with no accounting for ourself. Wonder is the neighboring intouchness with our intuitive.

Louis Khan then clarifies about Touch and Sight. As he believes the first feeling have to be touch. The sense of procreation also has to do with touch. The need to be beautifully in touch come eyesight. To see it is only to touch more perfectly. These forces inside us are striking things that we can still feel although they come from the most primitive way.

He says from one touch there is forced to touch, not just a touch, when it developed that could be the sight. Sight is the first instant that realization of beauty. It doesn’t mean beautiful, very beautiful or an extremely beautiful. Just merely beauty itself is stronger than any of adjectives. It is a feeling of entire harmony without knowing, reservation, criticism and choice. Harmony is the creator and the creator being it from nature. The nature is the creator of all that is made. No one can design anything without the help of nature. Sight immediately feels the entire harmony. Art, which is also immediately felt, is the first word, but he thinks it is the first word, and the first sound. It can be, “Ah,” just first. That is the powerful word. It expresses a lot although it has few letters.

He tells about Realization and Intuition. He believes that realization must come up with the wonder, because every law of nature has been gone through when we create something. And it is a part of us. All the steps and decisions are recorded in the intuitive. He tells that someone’s intuition is the most exacting and reliable sense. And it is more personal gift from god. Knowing comes from knowledge, and it gives intouchness. Although the knowledge can be taught, knowing can’t be taught, because knowing is a singular thing.

Everything that nature creates nature records how it has been made. In man, in a rock those are the records of how they were made. If we have a conscious of this, then we have the sense of universal laws. Some can restructure the laws of universe by knowing just only a blade of grass. Others have to learn lots of things before they sense what is essential to discover. First of all we must learn to honor our mind. Mind is not the brain. Louis khan states the mind as the seat of intuitive, the brain as an instrument which gives you potluck from nature. That is the reason for each ones singularity. If it is good, it takes out the spirit inside us.

Louis Khan has not given an exact definition for what Order is. He also faced a trouble and he is not satisfied with the statement.

The complicated explanation in his lesson is how he describes Silence and Light. As his words “Inspiration is the feeling of beginning as the threshold where Silence and Light meet”. He says the Silence is an unmeasurable thing, need to be, need to express, the basis of new need, when it meets Light then it become measurable, it is the giver of all existence, by a will, by a law, the measure of things are already prepared.

Light to Silence and the Silence to Light, the Light is the provider of presence, shadow of a cast belongs to the Light. What belongs to the Light and to desire of do something. Silence is not meaning the quiet. It is something between lightless and darkles. Louis Khan here introduces some new words. Those are Lightless and Darkles. He justifies it as desire to be and to express the ambient soul. If we think of something in where Light and Silence together or separated, that is only apply for the convenience of argument.

He explained what “Light” is through a nice example. That is how we can draw a picture in a paper to show that demonstrate light. White piece of paper is already an illustration. But Louis put black ink on paper and makes to realize that light has gone coz of black. That is a picture where the light was not. That is how he says what Light is.

He believes that everything belongs to light. It is the source of all the material, streams, hills, air, people and all. The shadow that creates by materials also belongs to the light. The world could be ooze without any desire to express. Desire comes out with joy and it is the main basis of making our sight possible.

When he talks about creating something, he explains what we gain from nature, and how the nature involves in doing something to the human creations or makings. I feel that Louis Khan is so sensitive to the nature and its survival. As he says, nature works by laws and human work according to rules. And there is a difference between our rules and nature’s laws. But when we are making something automatically we employ laws of nature. Laws cannot be changed, but rules can be changed. Rules are made on trial. The moment that rule is changed and find a new rule is the new way of expression.

Louis Khan nicely explained about aesthetics in his speech. Aesthetic is something that no one can employ, it can be realized beyond singularity of a design that employed rules to create an aesthetical principal. It is come to the design after create that and not before. We can leave it someone else to critic or for instance. People think and work in their own ways. And they are different to each others. So we should let them to feel the aesthetics as their own ways.

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Realization comes with the sense of wonder, and it born out of intuitive. Although we can’t see there is a definite existence for something that must be so. It makes us to think that what want you to express. In this force to express, it creates difference among existence and presence. When we give something presence, we have to consult the nature, that’s where the Design starts.

His idea about Form is, it is something that covers a harmony of the systems, sense of order that decides one existence from another. It is the realization of a nature, made with inseparable elements. It has no shape no dimension, inaudible, no presence and it’s survived in the mind. Form leads the Design. If we assume Form is “what”. Then we can say the Design is “how”. Form is impersonal thing, but the Design belongs to the designer.

The shape is given to elements by design, taking them as of their existence in mind and to the tangible presence. Design is an indirect act. In architecture, it distinguishes the harmony of spaces fine for a certain function.

Louis Khan says that it is a very important decision comes from commonality to decide a place out of other places to build, where a place those others also can settle. It is comparisons to positioning a Greek temple in a hill. He says that the Space has a tonality. And he experienced the spaces by composing his self to the spaces such vaulted, under a dome, lofty, narrow, and high, light to darkness etc.

He sees the Structure as the giver of light. Raw of columns is mean to him as light, no light, light, no light and light. Other structures as domes, vaults also a character of light to him.

According to the explanation about materials of him, I identified him as a brick lover. Because he talks about bricks a lot in his examples. Realization means the realization of form; it means the realization of certain nature of anything. By that realization we can discover the order of environmental factors, and about the order of certain materials. For an example he gets a brick. First we should consulting the orders, and then consider the nature of it. He emphasizes that we must honor the material we use. By thinking of reduce the cost and easy methods, it’s not good to do it with inferior materials which loses its character and glory. He believes that brick is a beautiful material that did beautiful works in past and present also. It is a live material and the only logical material to use. He sees the Concrete as a highly sophisticated material that is not much available to people. The beauty of the design comes with how much we have honored the material and its real quality. We must try to take the maximum realization of a material by giving our maximum honor and we do not let another to take that chance. By this thought of him, it persuades us to get the maximum use of a material by understanding its glory.

When he talks about walls and columns, he sees the wall as something that giving protection to the man by its thickness and strength. When the man wants to see the outside, he makes a hole in the wall. Early it is a painful thing to the wall. But the man did it creatively and gets a pretty finish that structurally stable. For the column also he asked to consider as same.

He believes that the inspiration remains and gently expressed in our present institutions. He has identified three great inspirations. Those are the inspiration to learn, to meet, and for the well-being.

When he talks about art and architecture, he thinks that art is just like an oracle. He sees the art work of an artist as an offering to Art. Art become an Art if only it is an abstract. The appearance of Architecture as a human expression is very important because people live to express. The process of a great building is must start with unmeasurable, go through measurable and it should end with unmeasurable. In this process it starts with following laws of nature, then construction methods, quantity of materials involve, but finally it becomes a part of living. That is unmeasurable.

Architecture has only existence and it has no presence. Work of architecture only has the presence. A work of architecture is an offering to architecture.

Finally Louis Khan has nicely interpreted about “The Architect”. According to his idea the architect is a one who does things in private but does can belong to everyone. The most worth thing of an architect is that he can claim on area but no ownership and the part he does, doesn’t belong to him. He always feel what he has done is always incomplete and think what he is going to offer in his next work. He believes that it is not an easy thing to become an Architect. It takes long time. Although it can become a professional architect overnight, to feel the spirit or architecture it takes longer. Architect is the one who coveys the gorgeousness of the spaces. He thinks of meaningful space and then he invents an environment that can be his invention.

 

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