モデュロール理論の形成過程における身体図の役割について

ル・コルビュジエのモデュロールに描かれた身体図像に関する研究（その1）

抄録

 Le Corbusier’s Modulor is a theory of dimension and scale for architects. The Modulor replaced the dimensional standards, principles of Purism, and tracés régulateurs used in achieving the “machine aesthetic” advocated by Le Corbusier during the 1920s, and it brought harmony to both the interior and exterior of buildings such as the postwar Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, the Cabanon, and works of religious architecture.

 Why does the Modulor’s human figure raise its left arm? Despite the wide dissemination of this distinctive posture and physique, what role the human figure played in the Modulor research, and what it brings to the theory, remains unknown. The human figure in the Modulor is not merely a diagram or explanation of the theory, but also at the heart of the theory. In this paper, by tracing mutual adjustments between theory and bodily expression (part and posture) at each stage of the formation of the theory, we argue that there was a deliberate transition in graphic representation. Next, the freedom of behavior attained by the Modulor's “arm-raising body” in comparison with the “mechanical body” of modern aesthetics, mathematicians and architects, was a criticism of the efficiency of diagrammatic representations of the human body.

 The standards that motivated the Modulor research arose from the modern knowledge that supported mass production and allowed its distribution across languages and national boundaries. It is shared by Le Corbusier's advocacy of “machines for living” and his artistic movement Purism, as well as modern art in general, including the Bauhaus and other architectural movements. But under the “total warfare” policy of the Nazi regime in Germany, Neufert-based standards were adopted not only in ordinary mass housing, but also for maximum efficiency in the planning of concentration camps, and for forced labor by national prisoners of war. The expression of the body in the Modulor made diverse and free behavior possible through a relaxation of the whole body. The posture of raising the right arm indicates the height of the space unavailable for labor/production. Such a posture is irrelevant to functionalist thinking and efficiency-oriented human understanding.

 However, for architects it is an everyday attitude, a posture that confirms the height of the ceiling. With this posture the Modulor critiqued the mechanical body, including the Neufert body, and discovered a free space that cannot be grasped by spatial concepts and may be considered a meaningful space.

 The purpose of this paper is to use these issues to clarify the function and role of the human figure in the formation of the theory of the Modulor.