Shutter Mike Photography

The Salk Institute was started in the 1960s in La Jolla , CA by Jonas Salk, the founder of the polio vaccine.  Salk enlisted the architectural firm of  Louis Kahn to design the institute’s buildings on a mesa in Torrey Pines that overlooks the Pacific.  The key elements of the architecture are its symmetry and stark modern materials.   On a gray and misty Southern California morning the concrete and weathered teak that make up the facades of the buildings almost blend with the surroundings.  The two identical structures that house laboratories, offices, a library and auditorium are divided down the middle by a courtyard and stream of water that appears to empty into the Pacific at the West end.  The simplicity of the unfinished concrete, teak wood that has aged in the sea air and sharp, clean lines give the Salk Institute a very contemporary and clean appearance.  Very suiting for a scientific research facility.

I went to the Salk Institute on a weekend so the main courtyard was locked.  But you can still gain access to the exteriors of the buildings for photography.  If you can make it during the week they offer free architectural tours Monday through Friday at noon.  And the courtyard houses an exhibit of Dale Chihuly glass sculptures on display through August, 2010.

West end of the Salk Institute

f/9.0 – 1/320 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 28 mm

Teak wood was used on the facades of the Salk Institute

f/7.1 – 1/80 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 28 mm

Concrete, left unfinished, was the main material of the buildings

f/7.1 – 1/320 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 60 mm

Simple geometric shapes were repeated often

f/16.0 – 1/80 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 28 mm

Check back later in the week for part II of my Salk Institute architectural photography collection.