How are the laboratory buildings arranged?

As mirror images on either side

What lies between the lab floors?

Service floors for pipes and ducts

Salk Institute Quiz: Louis Kahn's Courtyard Facing the Pacific

This Salk Institute quiz walks into Louis Kahn's concrete research campus in La Jolla, California. Play 10 interactive questions on Jonas Salk and the polio vaccine, his wish for a place fit to welcome Picasso, the empty travertine courtyard, the thin water channel pointing to the ocean, Luis Barragán's advice, mirror-image labs, teak panels and service floors.

Start Salk Institute Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Place
Where is the Salk Institute?
Founder
Who founded the institute?
Architect
Who designed the buildings?
Wish
Whom did Salk want to feel welcome there?
Court
What is the central courtyard paved with?
Water
What runs down the middle of the courtyard?
Advice
Which Mexican architect advised keeping the courtyard empty?
Labs
How are the laboratory buildings arranged?
Wood
Which wood softens the concrete study towers?
Floors
What lies between the lab floors?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Where is the Salk Institute?
Answer: La Jolla, California
It overlooks the Pacific.
Q2: Who founded the institute?
Answer: Jonas Salk
He developed a polio vaccine.
Q3: Who designed the buildings?
Answer: Louis Kahn
It opened in the 1960s.
Q4: Whom did Salk want to feel welcome there?
Answer: Picasso
He wanted science and art to meet.
Q5: What is the central courtyard paved with?
Answer: Travertine
It is mostly empty.
Q6: What runs down the middle of the courtyard?
Answer: A thin water channel
It points to the ocean.
Q7: Which Mexican architect advised keeping the courtyard empty?
Answer: Luis Barragán
He called it a façade to the sky.
Q8: How are the laboratory buildings arranged?
Answer: As mirror images on either side
They frame the courtyard.
Q9: Which wood softens the concrete study towers?
Answer: Teak
It weathers to silver gray.
Q10: What lies between the lab floors?
Answer: Service floors for pipes and ducts
Labs can change easily.

A Courtyard Facing the Ocean

The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, was founded by Jonas Salk, developer of a polio vaccine. He asked architect Louis Kahn for a research campus beautiful enough to welcome Picasso, a place where science and art could meet. It opened in the 1960s.

Two mirror-image laboratory buildings frame a travertine courtyard. Mexican architect Luis Barragán advised Kahn to leave it empty of trees, calling it a façade to the sky. A thin water channel runs down the middle toward the Pacific, catching the sunset.

Kahn used warm concrete and teak panels on the study towers, which weather to silver gray. Service floors between the lab floors carry pipes and ducts, so labs can be reconfigured easily. The campus remains a working research institute.

What This Quiz Teaches

Architecture fans will enjoy these questions.

Who founded it
Who designed it
What the courtyard is like
How the labs work
Which materials are used

Did You Know?

Sunsets align with the water channel at times.
Scientists work in the labs today.
Visitors can join tours.
Kahn also designed Bangladesh's parliament.
Concrete forms left visible marks.