The Golden Ratio

The golden ratio is a mathematical measurement that has been used for centuries in the arts and science. It is found everywhere in the natural world and is said to be the most pleasing to the human eye.

Geometric Measurements(1)

From these measurements a geometric figure that can be formed is the golden rectangle.

The Golden Rectangle(@)

A further geometric figure that can develop from the golden rectangle is the whirling rectangle. This rectangle has a logarithmic spiral within it having the centre point converging on the intersecting point of the crossing lines. These crossing lines produce the measurements for the golden ratio.

Measurements for the Golden Ratio(3)

While looking at both the Plan of St.Gall and Le Corbusier's Le Cabanon the use of the golden ratio is evident. Historically the golden ratio was used in architecture because it was seen as measurements that held divine meaning in proportions. The ratio connects to many elements found in the natural world and to the beings that created the world.

The Plan of St. Gall uses these proportions to proportion the elements of the benedictine order into an architectural form. It creates a connection to divine form and order that would be the internal form of stability within the community.

As for Le Corbusier's Le Cabanon he used the same geometrical proportions to explain his building. Demonstrating the connection to the natural environment and his proportational understanding of space within a structure.

-Stefan Berry

Image Sources:

1. Freitag, Mark. "Phi:That Golden Number." http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT669/Student.Folders/Frietag.Mark/Homepage/Goldenratio/goldenratio.html (accessed Jan 18, 2010).

2. Ibid

3. Ibid

Information Sources:

Freitag, Mark. "Phi: That Golden Number." http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT669/Student.Folders/Frietag.Mark/Homepage/Goldenratio/goldenratio.html (accessed January 15th, 2010).

Emerging Chaos Calls for the Need for Stability

Emperor Constantine I (1)

September 4, 476. This date marks the fall of the Roman Empire, one of the most renowned periods in history where a country fell into near chaos. On this day, a barbarian by the name of Odoacer overthrew the Roman emperor Romulus Augustus from his political position. However, there were many other contributing factors leading to the decline of the Roman Empire including the increasing influence of Christianity on society. When first introduced, Christianity was not accepted among the empire. It wasn’t until 380 when Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire by the present emperor, Constantine I. Initially, the religion was strictly governed by the emperor, but over time church leaders became prominent figures, dictating the religious views to the public. Due to this movement, the power the emperor had on Romans decreased, diminishing the structure and within the state. In turn, chaos ensued and societal stability was lost.

St. Benedict (2)

Years later, in 524, a set of guidelines were written by St. Benedict, who was compelled to create these rules upon acknowledging the growing corruption of Rome’s society. These rules were meant to enforce stability and order and apply them to aid in lessening the turmoil that was plaguing society.

In the 700s, the plan of the monastery of St. Gall was drawn, one of the most prominent architectural drafts of the medieval era. The monastery of St. Gall was an ideal plan, not intended to be built but as a way for the abbot to contemplate the importance of a monastic life. Essentially, the plan was an embodiment of the Benedictine rules which controlled the life of the monks from the time they wake up to the time where they wash their feet and go to bed. There was little room from error considering how restricted their daily schedules were.

The Plan of St. Gall by Walter Horn and Ernest Born

The three volume series centered on the plan of St. Gall was initially published in 1979, first beginning research within the two decades prior. But why after all these years was this subject suddenly brought to light? Was there a reason for the authors, Walter Horn and Ernest Born, to look back to the plan and heavily document its contents? The Vietnam was between the anti-communists and the communists began in 1959, around the time research was being conducted for the plan. The world was suffering the destruction caused by war and perhaps searching the plan was in response to the current events of the time where parts of the world were thrown into disorder and there needed to be a reference to steady society.

Similarly, Corbusier, who based his personal retreat Le Cabanon on Cistercian cells could have had similar views on the existing problems throughout the world and created this cabin based on how he would go about bringing order and stability. Le Cabanon, like St. Gall, was focused on minimal habitation and how one could live with the bare essentials. The house was constructed in 1952, in the midst of the Cold War which occurred from 1941 to 1991. Maybe this study was Corbusier’s way of attempting to create a guideline for people in his time to refer to, much like Horn and Born looked for help in the Plan of St. Gall.

Based on the events that occurred during these periods, it is evident that these individuals felt the need to look back for a reference to help stabilize their society in desperate times.

-Lauren Tom

Image Sources:

1. "Ancient Mosaics." http://www.classicalmosaics.com/photo_album.htm (accessed Jan 17, 2010).

2. "The Cukierski Family Apostulate." http://www.cukierski.net/saintbenedict.shtml (accessed Jan 17, 2010).

Information Sources:

"Ancient/Classical History." http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/romefallarticles/a/fallofrome.htm (accessed Jan 17, 2010).

Bokern, Anneke. "Garden Shed a la Le Corbusier." April 4, 2009.http://www.stylepark.com/en/news/garden-shed-a-la-le-corbusier/291381 (accessed January 12, 2010).

"Fall of Rome - Why Did Rome Fall?." http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=710&HistoryID=ac58&gtrack=pthc (accessed Jan 17, 2010).

"Military: Cold War." http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cold_war.htm (accessed January 17, 2010).

The Modular and the Cabanon

Le Corbusier's Drawing of The Modular Man (1)

Based on the measurements of an individual man, Corbusier’s Modular is a scale of proportionality. In his Modular 2, Corbusier includes a quote from M. Gabriel Dessus: “I have just read ‘The Modular’... since the purpose of architecture is to house human beings, it is necessary that the dimensions of the elements of constructions, meant to be seen at the same time as the human being, should be in a relationship with it that is aesthetically correct’ – in other words, the series chosen must contain the principal dimensions of an ‘average’ man.” Corbusier took inspiration from studies by Leonardo da Vinci and Vitruvius in establishing his own “average” man. Combining this with the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci sequence, he relates the proportions of a building to the human functioning inside it.

The Modular man is represented on paper as a figure 2.2 m in height with one arm upraised, put inside two 1.1 by 1.1 m squares, superimposed on each other. A third square is set astride the first two, creating a place for the right angle which should help determine where to put the square. The Modular man adorns many of Corbusier’s buildings as a “signature” of sorts, and the large upraised hand becomes a recurring motif in sketches and designs like his Chandigarh open hand sculpture.

The Cabanon corresponds to Corbusier’s writings about the Modular in several ways. Firstly, he talks of the use and application of the Modulor to architecture in regards to cells, either single or in combination to form apartments or small houses. Corbusier was also fascinated with packaging and containers. The state of modern living was sad to him: “we live in an era of solidarity, not yet, alas, solidarity of feeling but of the bare bones of economic and technical method”. The idea he derived from such inspiration was two-tiered. In the first, focusing on packaging itself, Corbusier saw that optimizing the exterior, rather than the interior, would be of primary importance. This was his system of ‘isotropic’ stowage. For the second part, Corbusier focused on units of living as contained compartments. In Modular 2, Corbusier describes his Cabanon as the basic, ideal unit for such living: “Thanks to the Modular, the venture was completely sure”. Using prefabricated components assembled quickly on site and proportioned to a certain system, the Cabanon was the perfect example of one Modular unit, which later would be joined with others to make a collection in the Unité d’Habitation of Marseilles.

-Rachel Cohen Murison and Lauren Tom

Image Sources:

1. "Le Corbusier: Le Cabanon 1887-1865." http://www.borxu.com/corbu/html/modular.html (accessed Jan 16, 2010)

Information Sources:

"Iconeye." http://www.iconeye.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3684:le-corbusiers-cabanon (accessed Jan 16, 2010).

"Le Corbusier's Cabanon on the French Riviera." http://trifter.com/europe/france/le-corbusiers-cabanon-on-the-french-riviera/ (accessed Jan 16, 2010).

Le Corbusier. Le Modular and other buildings and projects, 1944-1945. New York: Garland, 1983.

Le Corbusier. My work. Translated by James Palmes. Introduction by Maurice Jardot. London: Architectural Press, 1960.

Le Corbusier. The Modulor: a harmonious measure to the human scale universally applicable to architecture and mechanics. Translated by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock. London: Faber and Faber, 1961.

Le Corbusier. Modulor I and II. Translated by Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980.

Designer of his Fate and our Sustainable Urbanity

Le Corbusier became the architect of his own mortality. The Cabanon was the threshold between life and death for its architect. Though for society, it was a new philosophy on how to live well in an industrial world, how to create a sustainable urbanity.

Le Corbusier (1)

The Cabanon was the only house he ever designed for himself. Although Corbusier was not a religious man, it is hard to argue the spiritual relationship that the Cabanon has with nature. He spent much of his career building monasteries. As a young architect, he found inspiration in the little cells that monks lived in. He liked the idea of having a small room to sleep, eat, think, and dream in. Cabanon ultimately became modern living in its most elemental form. Not corrupted by the frivolities of modern society, but similar to the purity of monistic life, it was designed to support the fundamental needs of an individual. In the years prior to the creation of the Cabanon, overpopulation was beginning to emerge and cities degraded into slums. The question rose of how to survive in such a tumultuous state. For Le Corbusier survival was not enough, he wanted to live. The difference between the two comes down to the human condition. It is the reason to survive.

There is an intriguing ambiguity imbedded in the purpose of the Cabanon. On one hand it was a study of the individual immersed in nature, a study to explore Corbusier’s monistic aspirations. On the other hand, it is also a stride towards living well in a growing urbanity. Upon further analysis, it can be observed that the former is the answer to the latter.

Corbusier’s last rule of design dictates the design of, “A roof garden so that we give back to the landscape what we’ve taken away.” While he did not have a roof garden on the Cabanon, he managed to maintain his environmental philosophy in an even greater respect. The mere size of the miniature cabin portrays the attempt at having a small footprint on the earth. It is situated in Roquenbrune, Cap-Martin, on the French Riviera. With such a magnificent landscape, Corbusier designed a structure that would not take over the environment, but rather become immersed in it. Especially with the function of the windows expressing the very elements of the earth (mineral, vegetation, and water), the house is fundamentally involved in the relationship between human and nature.

The Mediterranean Sea (2)

Corbusier believed that one could only truly experience spirituality in isolation, distant from the fast pace of daily life. He looked to the past for answers, as he studied the key fundamentals to living from a vernacular and elemental level. He discovered in medieval monasteries how many monks could all function as a community, while remaining on the path towards spirituality as an individual. The Monastery of St. Gall was never meant to be constructed, but rather to be treated as a philosophy. It has been referred to as the “perfect” monastery. Many monks would inhabit the space and yet they would all share one life. They followed a strict set of rules for living. These rules in addition to the arrangement of the plan assisted in creating an entire community with a single life. The monks would eat together, sleep together, pray together and work together. They functioned as one entity in the continual pursuit of salvation.

Imagine the Cabanon as a seed, one singular cell. Now imagine society as the fruit. The fruit holds within it many seeds that create life and growth. In order to properly understand the fruit, one must understand the seed. This is why Corbusier focused on deciphering the simple life. He wanted to find the core, the essence of dwelling. The Cabanon was his end result. Obviously he could not take the Cabanon and plop it into a city but the idea of simple living and going back to the vernacular basics of architecture, which created the Cabanon, can be used to create a sustainable foundation for urbanity.

An example of this is Le Corbusier’s L’unite D’habitation. The design took this seed notion and replicated it to form a community of housing all in one building.

L'Unite D'Habitation (3)

“I am so happy in my Cabanon that I shall probably end my days here.” Of course Corbusier would not have known at the time, but both Le Cabanon and the Monastery of St. Gall ultimately became a threshold from this life to the next. It was their inhabitants’ pathway towards god, or in Le Corbusier’s case death. While Corbusier did not have god, he did have something spiritual that was inspired from his Cabanon. He would open the window facing the sea and look out towards the horizon. "How nice it would be to die swimming towards the sun", he once remarked to a colleague. The horizon symbolized the infinite. It symbolized the answer to his mortality.

On August 27 1965, the seventy-seven year-old Le Corbusier approached the shore at his Cabanon. He entered the water and swam towards the hot Mediterranean sun. This would be his last swim as the architectural philosopher transcended from a body on this overcrowded Earth to a memory; an idea embedded in books and on the architecture he left behind.

Sunset (4)

-Simon McKenzie

Image Sources:

1. "Le Corbusier: The Art of Architecture." http://paulrobertlloyd.com/2009/05/lecorbusier (accessed Jan 14, 2010).

2. "Mediterranean Sea." http://sgp.undp.org/print.cfm?module=Projects&page=Image&ProjectImageID=27 (accessed Jan 14, 2010).

3. "L'Unité D'Habitation." http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartmichaeldavis/1294949977/ (accessed Jan 14, 2010).

4. "The Azure Island." http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/globetrekker/eurasia_2006/1158456120/tpod.html (accessed Jan 14. 2010)

Information Sources:

"architecture.com"http://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/Exhibitions/At66PortlandPlace/2009/Spring/CorbCabanon.aspx (accessed Jan 12, 2010)

"Building of the Month". http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/building/cabanon.html (accessed Jan 12, 2010)

"Mori Art Museum" http://www.mori.art.museum/english/contents/lc/section/main.html

(accessed Jan 14, 2010)

"Le Corbusier's Cabanon on the French Riviera" http://trifter.com/europe/france/le-corbusiers-cabanon-on-the-french-riviera/(accessed Jan 14, 2010)

Designing a Life.

Defining a good life may seem like a relatively simple task. However it is a subject that is filled with ambiguity and relativism. Is there an equation that one could follow to ensure such a life? Is a good life a state of mind or a physicality? What does such a life include and more importantly how can it be reached? Such questions have been at the front of human infatuation for years and they have never truly been answered. If asked people will likely answer that the answer is relative. A common answer would not be architecture. What does architecture have to do with the good life after all? Does where we live influence how we live and how we feel? Absolutely. This is something that Le Corbusier and Abbot Haito both tried to perfect and represent.

The plan for the monastery of St. Gall was something unique. It was the first attempt at representing a 'good' life within the built environment. While a life in a monastery is by no means an attractive one in modern society it can be inferred that the sense of security it provided in a tenuous medieval environment would make it a very viable lifestyle. It goes without saying that living safely with definite supply of food and shelter was very good. The rule of St. Benedict promoted such security. Monasticism, according to Benedict, was something that was directly related to the idea of permanence. To remove oneself from society and wander aimlessly leeching off of other institutions accomplished nothing. A monk should be initiated, educated, work, live and eventually die in his monastery. However, he interestingly notes that the monastery itself should be able to accommodate such a life within its walls, reducing any unnecessary contact with secular society. It is in this way that the church and its faithful can be strengthened in their quest to serve god. This was good. A life devoted to god was one with worth. A life that obeyed the rule was good. One that didn't wasn't. There was no room for interpretation, making the life of a monk essentially simple. However, the plan of St. Gall is the ideal monastery in the sense that it allows for such complete permanence. It poses a methodology of designing a monastery that could be reapplied to ensure the permanence, and thereafter stability, of the place. Not only would the monks live here for the entirety of their lives, they would live in a ceremonial way undergoing the same tasks, activities every day with minor variation. In this way, when one looks at the plan with this knowledge it becomes clear that the very layout of the place allows this to be accomplished with minor obstacle. Therefore the proposed good life in this monastery becomes a life of singularity. Every monk appears the same, acts the same, does the same things, eats the same food, lives in the same conditions and so on. The monastery begins to represent a single life. The community becomes a single entity with one face. All humble and individually insignificant under god. Finding a large sense of spirituality. This is both good and simple.

Le Corbusier studied living throughout his career. Carefully distilling what it meant to live. Not just living but living well. He concluded that people need no excess. They should live with the essentials immersed in their surroundings. However, the more interesting thing was his approach to his own residence. Le Cabanon was a miniscule structure, a mere spec compared to the plan of St. Gall. However, Cabanon is similarly designed to accommodate a certain lifestyle. A modular lifestyle. All necessary functions are designed to exact proportions detailing what one should do in their day to day routine. Le Cabanon's simplicity is what makes it good. It boldly states how to live. It does not simply imply. The good life is directly related to how you live. Therefore doesn't architecture play a key role in determining that? Corbusier believed it should reflect that very fact. Such philosophy is directly related to the time in which Corbusier lived. A time when the world suddenly repressed from its rampaging process and began to seek answers to its innumerable questions. Corbusier looked for such answers within his cabin. A cabin which allowed a life of pure constraint within the most grandeur setting. To me it was blunt architecture but an architecture which encompasses a life. A life with solitude. A life of necessity. A life of thought and introspection. These are things that Le Cabanon emits and that Corbusier embraces.

-Kyle Brill

Information Sources:

Braunfels, Wolfgang. Monasteries of Western Europe: The Architecture of the Orders. Princeton: Princeton Up, 1972.

Jencks, Charles. Le Corbusier and the Tragic View of Architecture. New edition ed. New York: Allen Lane, 1975.

Price, Lorna. The Plan of St. Gall In Brief: an overview of the three volume work by Walter Horn and Ernest Born. Ex-Library ed. Los Angeles: Univ Of California Press, 1982.

“…my castle on the French Riviera” -Le Corbusier

In 2006, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) constructed a 1:1 reproduction of Le Corbusier’s Cabanon. In January of 2010, a group of students at the University of Waterloo Architecture also constructed a 1:1 reproduction the Cabanon…. out of tape! This video shows the construction and relates it to the original Cabanon. The voice speaking is a man in Great Britain giving a tour of the interior of the RIBA’s Cabanon. He speaks of the Cabanon as a physical manifestation of Le Corbusier’s aspirations toward the purity and simplicity of monistic life. Please enjoy.

-Simon McKenzie


Actors: Stefan Berry, Kyle Brill, Sam Eby, Simon McKenzie, Rachel Cohen-Murison
Producer: Simon McKenzie


Media Sources:


"Le Corbusier's Mediterranean Cabanon comes to London" http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2009/mar/10/le-corbusier-cabanon(accessed Jan 12, 2010)

Windows to the soul

The Cabanon was Corbusier’s interpretation of the simple life. In this example, “simple” is best described as fundamental or essential. The design was a physical manifestation of his most concentrated thoughts on minimal living. The house measures only sixteen square meters. Because available space is such a rare commodity in this design, it is very intriguing that Corbusier envisioned art with such a high priority. This insight truly gives us an idea of what Corbusier believed to be essential to the human spirit. The careful and deliberate placement of windows, colors, and art visually portray many of Corbusier’s architectural philosophies.

Le Corbusier in Le Cabanon (1)

There are two paintings and one mural in the Cabanon. The paintings rest on the window shutters and the murals in the front entrance hall. He also painted a suite of eight murals on Eileen Gray’s walls, without her permission. She regarded the murals as an act of rape, violating the spirit of her house.

“I admit the mural is not to enhance the wall but on the contrary, as a means to violently destroy the wall, to remove from it all sense of stability, weight, etc.” (Le Corbusier)

Corbusier's Mural (2)

Paintings are not bound to physics like buildings. They are abstract, arbitrary, and artistically complex. Shelter, food, water all provide the means to survive, but Corbusier was more interested in art’s ability to give reason to survive. Art has immeasurable influence on the psychological condition of humanity. By this logic, of course it should be included in the absolute minimum of living well.

There are five windows, each unique in function. There are two windows, spanning nearly from floor to ceiling, that focus on light and air. The tall, narrow slits, that allow ventilation of the Cabanon no matter what the weather, are a recurrent feature in the architect’s later designs. The other three windows connect the individual with the environment. As the Cabanon does architecturally, the windows seek to categorize nature into its elemental form: mineral, vegetation, and water. On two of the windows, wooden shades can be opened and closed. When closed, vibrant paintings of deities are present. When opened, the windows literally frame the world outside as if it were a painting.

The Interior of Le Cabanon (3)

Corbusier mentioned that the windows are not necessarily for looking out, but rather looking in. Much like the house itself, the windows are to give a sense of perspective and inward reflection.

Vivid red, green and blue panels paint the ceiling to contrast the yellow-painted floor and wooden warmth of the walls. Corbusier’s attention to these artistic details address the psychological needs of the individual, which collectively create a unique architectural atmosphere and an interesting statement about the fundamental necessities of humanity.

View of the Minerals (4)

-Simon McKenzie


Image Sources:


1. Corbusier, Le. Towards a New Architecture. Connecticut: Praeger, 1972



2. Ibid


3. Ibid


4. Ibid


Information Sources:

Fillipo. Interior of Cabanon: Le Corbusier 1952, Cassina 2006. Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2006.

"Le Corbusier's Cabanon on the French Riviera." http://trifter.com/europe/france/le-corbusiers-cabanon-on-the-french-riviera/ (accessed Jan 12, 2010).

"PRAZ-DELAVALLADE" http://www.brettcodyrogers.com/press/releases/PR_Farewell_Human_Scale.pdf
(accessed Jan 14, 2010)