Equinox at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, California

Equinox at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, California

On both the spring and autumn equinoxes, the sun aligns with the sunken fountain channel in the courtyard of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California. When it was being built in 1962, the courtyard was specifically left open and plant-free to represent the broad creative thinking that would go on in the labs, with the symmetry of the space symbolising scientific precision. When Jonas Salk commissioned the building for his research centre, his instructions for architect Louis Kahn were simple: ‘It should be worthy of a visit by Picasso’.