Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, known as Le Corbusier, was a pioneering modern architect who developed the Modulor system to incorporate human scale into architectural design mathematically. The Modulor was based on the Golden Section and Fibonacci numbers and used human measurements like arm spans. Le Corbusier applied the Modulor in projects like the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, Church of Sainte Marie de La Tourette, and the Capitol Complex in Chandigarh, where he divided spaces and established proportions according to the system.

1. Le Modulor
–
Manifestation
of human scale
into
mathematical
truths
Rajorshi Chatterjee
001210201019
5TH Year , 1st Sem
Jadavpur University

2. Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who
chose to be known as Le Corbusier
was a Swiss-French architect, designer,
urbanist, writer and also painter, who is
famous for being one of the pioneers
of Modern architecture or the
International Style. He was born in
Switzerland, but became a French
citizen in his 30s.
His work was dedicated to providing
better living conditions for the
residents of crowded cities. His career
spanned five decades, with his buildings
constructed throughout central Europe,
India, Russia, and one each in North
and South America.
He was also an urban planner, painter,
sculptor, writer, and modern furniture
designer.
(October 6th, 1887 – August 27th, 1965)
Le Corbusier
Modernism Architect

3. Domino Houses
(1914–1915)
Purist theory and
painting
Single family houses
(1918–1922)
Towards a new
architecture
Rejecting Cubism as
irrational and
romantic, published
their manifesto,
"Après le
cubisme”
The elements through which architecture manifests itself must be primary
unambiguous volumes (e.g. cubes, cones, spheres or cylinders)
brought together by shadow and light and accentuated by surfaces shaped
only by their practical necessity.
The plan based on pure geometry had the role of an indispensable
generator who would bring volumes and surfaces together in an orderly
manner.
(1923)
He called the private Homes as
“ The Machines to live in”
TIMELINE

4. The Radiant City concept
(1930)
“unités" (the housing
block unit of the Radiant City)
around France
(1942-1948)
The Modulor
Or
Le Modulor
(1946)
From the "astonishingly beautiful assemblage of
buildings" that was Stockholm, for example, Le Corbusier saw
only “frightening chaos and saddening monotony.”
He dreamed of "cleaning and purging" the city,
bringing "a calm and powerful architecture" —
referring to steel, plate glass, and reinforced concrete
Le Corbusier developed a system of measurements
which became known as "Modulor”. Based on the
Golden Section and Fibonacci numbers and also using
the physical dimensions of the average human
TIMELINE

5. Le Modulor The Modulor: A Harmonious Measure to the Human Scale Universally
Applicable to Architecture and Mechanics
Corbusier developed the Modulor in the long
tradition of Vitruvius,
Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man,
the work of Leone Battista Alberti,
and other attempts to discover
mathematical proportions in the
human body and then to use that
knowledge to improve both the appearance
and function of architecture
The system is based on :
• human measurements,
• the double unit,
• the Fibonacci numbers,
• and the golden ratio.

6. Le Modulor The Modulor: A Harmonious Measure to the Human Scale Universally
Applicable to Architecture and Mechanics
They were eternal and enduring, precious because they
were linked to the human person. The
names of these tools were: elbow (cubit), finger
(digit), thumb (inch), foot, pace, and so
forth.
They formed an integral part of the human body, and for
that reason they were fit to serve as measures for
the huts, the houses and the temples
that had to be built.
(Le Corbusier 1956: 19)
“Take a man-with-arm-upraised, 2.20 m. in height; put him
inside two squares, 1.10 by 1.10 m each, superimposed on
each other; put a third square astride these first two squares.
This third square should give you a solution. The place of the
right angle should help you decide where to put this third
square. With this grid for use on the building site, designed to
fit the man placed within it, I am sure you will obtain a series of
measures reconciling human stature “

7. Le Modulor
Le Corbusier used his Modulor scale in the design of many buildings ,
including:
• Unité d'Habitation at Marseille
• Church of Sainte Marie de La Tourette
• Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
• Chandigarh Capitol Complex

8. Unité d'Habitation
at Marseille

9. Unité d'Habitation
at Marseille
In his first book on the subject The Modulor, Le Corbusier has
a chapter on the use of the modular in the Unité d'Habitation
The
modular
governs: the
plan,
section and
elevations;
Brise-Soleil;
the roof;
the
supporting
columns
and the
plan and
section of
the
apartments.

10. Unité d'Habitation
at Marseille
The graphic representation of the Modulor, a stylized human figure with one
arm raised, stands next to two vertical measurements, a red series based on
the figure's navel height (1.08m in the original version, 1.13m in the revised
version) then segmented according to Phi, and a blue series based on the
figure's entire height, double the navel height (2.16m in the original version,
2.26m in the revised), segmented similarly.

11. Unité d'Habitation
at Marseille
The height of the modules are restricted to 2.26m each
floor, which is the length of the Modulor Man standing
with his one hand raised
2.26m
2.26m
2.26m
4.52m

12. Unité d'Habitation
at Marseille

13. • Church of Sainte
Marie de La Tourette

14. • Church of Sainte
Marie de La Tourette
The geometry of the cell at La Tourette was largely based on
Corbusier’s Modulor of 2,26m in height and width in the
circumstances of the cells for the fathers while the students
and brothers in training received narrower cells based on the
Modulor measurement of 1,83m.
The balcony itself was enclosed by walls which separated the
occupant from the neighboring cells and directed the focus of the
occupant to the outside.
Within the public realm, the headroom clearance is well
above the 2,26m of the modular while the private spaces
reduce down to the common denominator of 2,26m respectively.

15. • Church of Sainte
Marie de La Tourette
The accommodations of all cells
remained the same despite the spatial
differences which included a bed, sink,
integrated wardrobe-storage cabinet,
lamp, desk and chair, balcony with
glazed wall, door and natural ventilation
louvers on both ends of the cell for cross
ventilation.
Rooms of student
Rooms of father

16. • Carpenter Center for
the Visual Arts

17. • Carpenter Center for
the Visual Arts
In the Carpenter Center the Modulor system was used
for the Brise-soleil distances, the floor to floor
heights, the bay distances and the column
thicknesses. Le Corbusier conceived that the
dimensioning of the entrance ramp would be "visible
essay on the mathematics of the human body".
(1) Background of Project
“Meeting place of young people interested in experimenting with the visual media”.
In the ‘Oeuvre Complète’ the
tightness of the site is described
as a challenge. “The problem
consisted of creating the
circulation, places of work, to
find surfaces and lighting and,
the most difficult of all; it
consisted of inserting all of this in
so little space “.
(2) Problems in Design

18. • Carpenter Center for
the Visual Arts
(3) How to Construct Circulation System
Corbusier defined the ramp as the path
connecting the campus, rather than
access to the building entrance.
“What to see” and “What to be shown”
become important matters with the physical movement of
observers. The ramp of this building penetrates the site
in diagonal direction. It means the longest path
connecting two streets.
Corbusier classified the formation of external wall into four
kinds. The first one is the wall without anything, the second
is Brise-soleil , the third is Ondulatoires , and the fourth is
the glass wall with transparent glass panel

19. • Carpenter Center for
the Visual Arts
L L L
L
• MODULOR SYSTEM IN THE FACADES, FLOOR TO FLOOR HEIGHTS

20. • Chandigarh
Capitol Complex
For the city of Chandigarh,
Le Corbusier envisaged a
“full scale application
of mathematics in
building: three
dimensional urbanism
(on ground and in space)”.
He imagined a city where the
Modulor would be used as a
measuring tool that
influenced design at both
large and small scales,
“everything (from) pilotis,
highways and roads,
swimming pools,
buildings, from top to
bottom and in every
object of interior, car
parks…”

21. • Chandigarh
Capitol Complex

22. • Chandigarh
Capitol Complex
• The Capitol Complex in Chandigarh was by far Le
Corbusier’s grandest achievement.
• Even at this monumental scale, the Modular played
a vital role during the design process.
• The entire Capitol Complex is located within a
square with a dimension of 800 x 1600 meters on
each of its sides.
• Obelisks on four corners of this square marks the
extreme boundaries of the Complex.
• Keeping in mind the proportions of the Modulor, Le
Corbusier divided this large square further. He
positioned his architectural masterpieces - the
Secretariat, the High Court, the Assembly and the
unbuilt Governor’s Palace at specific points
corresponding to the geometry of the Golden
Section.
• While the relevance of this grandiose arrangement
does not reveal itself at once to the human eye, Le
Corbusier justified it saying, “the site is united with
the imperceptible”

23. • Decoding The
Secretariat
It is seen that the basic form of the
Secretariat is based on the
Modulor and Golden
Section.
Beginning with a simple rectangle, Le
Corbusier divided it further
into six proportional parts. He
then derived a double square
projected on the central axis and used
the vertical axis dividing the lines
between the square to establish the
position of the wall within the
rectangle.
The system of proportioning and
progressions further establish the
positions of the pilotis, brise
soleil on the facade, the location of
dividing walls, room heights in
sections as well as the dimensions of
the open plans for the interiors.

24. • Decoding The
Secretariat
To maximize natural lighting and
increase cross-ventilation, a long
and narrow plan was implemented.
To visually reduce the scale of its
massive facade, the Secretariat was
designed with a Modulor façade that
fragments the elevation into legible,
programmatic elements.
This approach not only prevents
onlookers from being
overwhelmed by its scale, it also
plays an important role with regard
to the day lighting scheme of the
project as a whole.
Corbusier has used louvers on
the southern facade to
mitigate solar gain; there is a
almost a meter distance
between solar breaks and
windows which helps to reduce
the heat.
A. Natural Light and Ventilation

25. • Decoding The
Secretariat
It emphasizes a sense of hierarchy of facades
and by its sheer cliff-like size and volume,
completes the vista through distant mountains,
where eye is led onwards to the smaller, more
significant buildings and space beyond.
The undulatory glass panels are well protected
against the sun and rain by a grill of brise-soleil
on the two principal facades.
B. RAMPS:
Two Ramps in the Secretariat Building were
provided to transport the materials for
construction to the upper stories, as the budget
was low for planning the city of Chandigarh, and
cranes were not used.
The whole structure is constructed in 'beton
brut' (rough-cast concrete) with Corbusier's
signature 'brise-soleils‘ facade.
Over 800 feet long, the extensive facade of
the building gives a sculptural aesthetic with
exposed concrete ramps, punctured with
small square windows dictating the front and
rear views.

26. LE CORBUSIER MY WORK by Maurice Jardot.
LE CORBUSIER ARCHITECTURAL WORKS VOL-IV
1938-1946 BY W. Boesiger.
LE CORBUSIER LAST WORKS by Willy Boesiger.
LE CORBUSIER & Pierre Jeanneret THE COMPLETE
ARCHITECTURAL WORKS VOL-III 1934-1938
LE CORBUSIER & HIS WORK IN INDIA by Sir William
Jr. Curtis.
Google
Wikipedia
• Bibliography

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