Fort Worth Tutors Come To You

Fort Worth, known for its iconic Western identity, complete with cowboy images and old architecture, houses an unexpectedly modern and uniquely-designed museum. The Kimbell Art Museum is internationally known for its fine art exhibitions, research, traveling displays, and educational programs with the fine arts. In a city of cowboys and ranchers, the museum stands as a separate entity, but still in keeping with the rustic identity of this special city in Northeastern Texas.

The Kimbell Art Museum consists of a series of concrete vaulted structures, faced with travertine on the interior and exterior. Lighting and an inviting atmosphere are key elements to any museum design, so Louis Kahn, the architect, worked a skylight system into each of the vaulted ceilings, which are rounded in appearance. This skylight system was difficult to construct, given the shape of the vaults, as well as the challenge of bringing in indirect sunlight that would not damage the art in each of the galleries. Reflecting plates made of anodized aluminum were installed to distribute the light evenly across the curve of the ceiling. Perforations in certain parts of the plates mean some of the outside world can be glimpsed from the museum’s lobby, and the high finish of the museum’s walls assists in the reflection of the light throughout each of the galleries. The end result is that the strong Texas sun enters a narrow slot at the top of each vault and is evenly reflected from a curved screen across the entire arc of the polished concrete ceiling, ensuring a beautiful distribution of natural light that had never before been achieved in other designs.

Kahn’s revolutionary vision for the museum would not have been realized without additional support and input. He collaborated with Marshall Meyers, his project architect on design, August Komendant, a leading expert on concrete construction, Richard Kelly, Khan’s office and lighting designer, and even a computer expert to calculate the exact shape of the reflector’s curve on each vault. Moreover, this was one of the first major buildings to be partially designed with computer technology. Other collaborators included Khan’s contractors, project managers, engineers, and designers—without this additional input, the Kimbell Art Museum would not look the way it does today. It is regarded by many of Khan’s biographers as his greatest work, and has earned Fort Worth notable distinction by the American Institute of Architects.

Tutoring, like the design of the Kimbell Art Museum, is similarly a collaborative experience. The human mind is complex, and the factors that determine student success or failure are multi-faceted and varied. Tutors recognize this, and therefore, work with their clients to build plans for improvement. Moreover, tutors in Fort Worth are highly trained to recognize the individual needs of their students, just as Khan recognized the need the city of Forth Worth had for a special, unique piece of art that would house some of the finest art produced by the greatest masters.