Le Corbusier’s Modulor and the Debate on Proportion in France

Finally codified in 1945 after several years of research, Le Corbusier’s Modulor is probably the most comprehensive proportional system imagined during the 20th century. Developed through contacts with consultants such as art historian Elisa Maillard, and referring to statistical measurements of the human body, the Modulor concluded decades of discourse on proportions, a theme that preoccupied Le Corbusier ever since his sojourn in Germany in 1910. Matila Ghyka’s work on the golden section was one of the sources for the Modulor, but his work in general was used by other architects, such as Le Corbusier’s rival Andre Lurcat, who proposed his own range of proportions related to the work of builders as much as to that of designers. Proportions thus became a central issue in the postwar French reconstruction, as architects struggled to maintain their status amid changing procedures in building production.