Louis Kahn is likely your favorite architect’s favorite architect.
He coined this famous parable about materials:
“You say to a brick, ‘What do you want, brick?’
And the brick says to you, ‘I like an arch.’
And you say, ‘Look, arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete lintel over you. What do you think of that, brick?’ Brick says: ‘I like an arch.’”
On the surface, this sounds absurd. A brick with an opinion? But, Kahn wasn’t going mad; he was pointing to something deeper.
Every material carries its own truth.
Brick is strongest in compression, so of course it “wants” to be an arch. Ignore that and force it into something else (like a concrete lintel) and yes, it might work, but it loses its soul.
Wood wants to bend.
Brass wants to be touched.
Fiber wants to be woven.
Khan’s message is simple: allow the material to behave naturally.
Conversation + Experimentation
Sometimes, determining the strengths and limitations of a material's behavior takes time. It means testing, experimenting, and noticing how it reacts to strain, temperature and more. At Dwelden, this investigation is the starting point for everything we make.
Why It Matters
Kahn talked to his bricks.
We listen to our paper, wood, and fiber.
The lesson is the same: when we embrace a material's innate properties, we create work that feels honest, sustainable, and timeless.
