Editing Louis Kahn (section)

== Richards Medical Research Laboratories ==

The Richards Medical Research Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania (1960) announced Kahn's emergence as a major architect. The building's distinctive brick towers separate "servant" spaces—stairs, mechanical systems, exhaust ducts—from "served" laboratory studios, expressing the functional hierarchy through architectural form. This separation of functions, made visible in the building's silhouette, became a key principle of Kahn's mature work. The towers' strong verticality and the building's material solidity marked departure from the glass curtain walls that dominated contemporary architecture.<ref name="wiseman"/>

Richards Labs brought Kahn international attention and criticism. Scientists complained that the laboratories' fixed configurations limited flexibility; architectural critics debated whether the building's powerful forms served or imposed upon its functions. But the building's architectural significance could not be denied: Kahn had produced something genuinely new, drawing from ancient sources while addressing modern requirements. The building's influence spread through publication and visits, establishing Kahn as an architect of ideas as well as buildings.<ref name="brownlee"/>