Kimbell Art Museum

Louis Kahn – Fort Worth, Texas, USA, 1966-1972

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth (Texas, United States), in the Dallas metropolitan area, is home to one of the most important American art museums.
The venue is located in an impressive architectural complex designed in 1971 by Louis Kahn, with a series of large galleries covered by cycloid vaults, where a copious natural light falls.
The museum is composed of 16 parallel vaults which are each 30.6 m long, 6 meters high and 6 meters wide (internal measures) The vaults are grouped in three wings. To the north and south each wing has six times, with the western one open as a porch. The central space has four times, with the western one open as an entrance porch facing a courtyard partially closed by the two outer wings. The art galleries are located on the upper floor of the museum to allow access to natural light. Service and curatorial spaces as well as an additional gallery occupy the ground floor. Each time inside it has a skylight along its apex to allow natural light to illuminate the galleries. Air ducts and other mechanical services are found in the flat channels between the times.