The Balance Problem Set

Problem 14 Tutorial: Interior/Exterior Balance

Question: Which of the two buildings below is the best example of a balanced composition created by the expression of the relationship between the interior and the exterior?

Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, Bear Run, PN, (1936)	Exterior	Interior
Mengoni, Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel, Milan, Italy, (1865-1877)	Exterior	Interior

Frank Lloyd Wright Balance can be created in architecture at the building scale by reinforcing and expressing the relationship between the interior and exterior. The relationship between the interior and the exterior can be balanced in several ways.
Frank Lloyd Wright and the modernists used the transparancy of glass to reduce the perception of a division between interior and exterior space. Both Wright and Mies van der Rohe created walls that ran continuously from the interior to the exterior of the house. The only separation between interior and exterior was made through the abutting window glass at the wall.	Enlarge Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, (Kaufmann Residence), Bear Run, PN, (1936)

Mengoni The images of the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel reveal another set of priorities. From the Roman triumphal arch of the exterior one wouldn't know that the glass and cast iron arcade completely covers the interior street. The effect is one of suprise that the inside is so light filled.

Exterior Mengoni, Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel, Milan, Italy, (1865-1877)

Interior Mengoni, Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel, Milan, Italy, (1865-1877)

Louis Kahn Another method for creating a sense of balance between the interior and the exterior is seen in Louis Kahn' Yale Center for British Studies. In this building the concrete structural frame is expressed both on the exterior and in the interior. This allows the occupant or visitor to recreate a model of the structure in his mind and to understand where he stands in relationship to the overall frame.

Exterior Louis I. Kahn, Yale Center for British Studies, New Haven, CN, (1969-72)

Interior Louis I. Kahn, Yale Center for British Studies, New Haven, CN, (1969-72)

Problem 14 | Answer

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