The Kimbell Art Museum is an art museum in Fort Worth, Texas, designed by Louis Kahn and completed in 1972. The building is composed of sixteen parallel vaults, each a post-tensioned concrete cycloid shell about 100 feet long, 20 feet wide and 20 feet high, supported only at their four corners so the gallery floor beneath is left largely open. Along the apex of each vault a narrow skylight admits natural light onto a perforated aluminum reflector, which scatters it across the underside of the vault so the galleries are lit by indirect daylight while direct sun is kept off the art. The museum's handling of concrete, travertine and light has made it one of the most studied buildings of the later twentieth century.
Facts
Building TypeSourced to the subject's own account LocationSourced to the subject's own accountFort Worth, Texas, United States 1 Completed Year Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account Building Type
Building Type (category)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
Associated With
Has Building Type
Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.
In Style
Source Wikipedia: Kimbell Art Museum
Uses Element
Louis Kahn faced the museum in warm travertine both outside and in, paired with his signature vaulted concrete roof.
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Kimbell Art Museum
WikipediaHistory section, second paragraph, last sentence
The new building opened in October 1972 and quickly achieved an international reputation for architectural excellence.
lead, first sentence
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library.
Entity description and the lead of the Wikipedia article
The Kimbell Art Museum is an art museum in Fort Worth, Texas, designed by Louis Kahn and completed in 1972. The building is composed of sixteen parallel vaults, each a post-tensioned concrete cycloid shell about 100 feet long, 20 feet wide and 20 feet high, supported only at their four corners so the gallery floor beneath is left largely open. Along the apex of each vault a narrow skylight admits natural light onto a perforated aluminum reflector, which scatters it across the underside of the vault so the galleries are lit by indirect daylight while direct sun is kept off the art. The museum's handling of concrete, travertine and light has made it one of the most studied buildings of the later twentieth century.
In Style: Modernist Architecture, Wikipedia categories
Category:Modernist architecture in Texas
View the Source 2. Wikidata: Kimbell Art Museum
- Wikidata Q1741629, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikidata Q1741629, P571 claim (w-bbfill-artsarchag-0926)
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