A modernist gem by a modernist master
The Yale Center for British Art was the last building designed by the great Estonian-American Architect, Louis Kahn. Opened in 1977, three years after Kahn’s untimely death, the Center houses Yale University’s vast collection of British art spanning the last 500 years.
The Center for British Art maintains a somewhat unassuming presence at the heart of Yale University, whose sprawling grounds occupy much of the central core of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. Mention architecture at Yale and the thoughts of most casual observers might well turn to the attractive nineteenth century neo-Gothic buildings that surround the courtyard of its Old Campus. However, courtesy of a progressive post-war building programme, Yale is also home to some of the best and most celebrated mid-twentieth century buildings in the US, designed by a plethora of renowned architects including Eero Saarinen, Paul Rudolph, Gordon Bunshaft and Kahn himself. When compared to the dynamic swooping profile of Saarinen’s Ingalls Ice Hockey Rink at Yale, or the jutting angularity of Rudolph’s nearby fortress-like Art and Architecture Building, the Center for British Art’s clean modernist lines and minimalist glass and steel-clad exterior offer little obvious competition in the architectural drama stakes.
Yet, the Center for British Art's understated external appearance quickly gives way to an imposing entrance court that rises to the full height of the building – illuminated, like the rest of the museum, by an eye-catching concrete lattice of skylights arranged overhead. The Center's interior is replete with familiar Kahn design tropes: a marriage of smooth, silvery concrete and orange-toned wood panelling that was also used to such great effect in his Phillips Exeter Academy Library a few years earlier. Although arguably lacking the sheer spectacle of the latter building’s atrium of huge circular apertures and geometric forms, the Center for British Art does have its own piece of architectural theatre: an atmospheric central stairwell (see photo), housed in a futuristic-looking three-storey concrete cylinder that adds an intriguing focal point to the building’s interior.
As author, Carter Wiseman outlines, Louis Kahn’s level of artistry is widely seen as equal to that of twentieth century architectural titans such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Indeed, Kahn’s greatest works, including the Salk Institute in Southern California and National Assembly Building in Bangladesh, are justly recognised for their distinctive, monumental forms and designs imbued with symbolism. Whilst the Yale Center for British Art lacks the physical aura of these masterpieces, it sits neatly within its urban setting in New Haven and offers an impressive space in which to view the myriad art treasures on display.
