Technical Integration Highlights

Physical

• Vierendeel beams form the interstitial cavity for dis­tribution and maintenance of services

• The building is folded into the sloped site to maxi­mize views to ocean

Visual

• An arcaded courtyard aesthetic is achieved by placing the study carrels and their stairs to the garden side of the laboratories and separating these stair towers with lightwells that illuminate the lower-level spaces.

• Placing the study carrels at interstitial levels outside the labs allowed for views across the courtyard. Combining them with the stair towers fulfills the “jewel surrounded by ruins” intention of screening the laboratories from sun and noise. Placing elevator and service towers to the outside perimeter of the labs accomplishes the same purpose.

• Articulation of the joints between the 29 separate structures of the complex into reveals large enough to serve as rainwater gutters forms a system of small troughs that delineate building connections.

• Placing mechanical and storage spaces on the east end of the laboratories reinforces the monumental empti­ness as one approaches the courtyard. At the same time, locating conference, library, and offices on the west end allows for views to the ravine and the ocean.

Performance

• The free span of laboratory floors and their large open areas permit flexibility of experiment stations.

• Deep interstitial structural spaces are used for utilities to achieve separation, cleanliness, and flexibility of services.

• Cantilevering the vierendeels allowed greater span, removed circulation space from the valuable area of the laboratory floor, and provided shade to the fully glazed laboratory walls.

• Separation of the complex into 29 structurally inde­pendent buildings adds structural ductility and earth­quake resistance.

• The large panes of glass used in laboratory and mechanical spaces are easily removed for movement of large pieces of equipment.

Discussion

Like that of Richards Medical, the systems perspective at Salk is a direct outgrowth of the size of the mechanical systems and their critical functions. Equally important is the demand for flexibility of services and the number of provisions in each lab space: water, salt water, distilled water, gas, carbon dioxide, propane, and electricity, among others. On the cusp of an age when technical considera­tions would dictate the fundamental premise of design, the Salk Institute illustrated how architecture can seize technical challenges and interpret them as design oppor­tunities.

Integration logic between the structural and service systems recognizes the demands for free-span flexibility in the laboratory. This is a horizontal reinterpretation of the vertical air stacks at Richards Medical. Because the struc-

ture is made 9 ft deep to keep the labs open, the interstitial layers are deep enough to carry mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. This also allows ducts, pipes, and wires to be arranged and rearranged according to their own logic rather than made to fit other systems.

Vertical servicing at Salk is largely given over to Kahn’s quest for silence and light; both the study towers on the courtyard side and the larger service towers on the perimeter are filters of light and sun. Their strict sym­metrical deployment is more monumental than func­tional-north and south orientations are given the same treatment of overhanging walkways and interposing tow­ers. But the forms certainly modulate the California skies more effectively than they would be if the laboratories were exposed