Introduction
The aim of this blog is to relate the article written by Le Corbusier, called Le Modulor to the site
visit we had to Pura Tanjung Sabtu at Terrenganu. We will be discussing about the body and building
perspective of things.
Views
Firstly the Le Modulor talks about how prefabricated objects such as houses and furnitures
should have a standardised measurements for the average person to make use of and to
operate with as much ease and comfort as possible while mass producing a large amount of the
same product. What Le Corbusier did was set up a Proportioning Grid consisting of numbers,
figures and diagrams, he did this in hopes that it would be easier to achieve a universal
standard for prefabricated products.
Speaking about standardised measurements, the Pura Tanjung Sabtu has a set standardised measurement that varies from the norm. Their wall opening dimensions such as their doors and
windows all have slightly different heights and sizes. But they do have a reason to that which
makes it interesting.
Le Corbusier wanted to be able to mass produce while being able to provide ultimate comfort to
the end users, but in the traditional malay customs. They focus more on the respect between
each other. So they have shorter door openings so that when a person enters the space they
are somewhat forced to slightly bow down. This gesture is a sign of mutual respect to the
members in the house. The internal floor heights are also built on different heights showing the
hierarchy of the different members in the family example how the parents quarters are
positioned at a higher elevation than the others.
Thoughts
This idea of a standardised measurements seem to appear in different cultures throughout the
world, but they all are for various reasons highly dependant on the current state of needs and
culture. In the time Le Corbusier wrote the Le Modulor, Europe was thriving in the prefabricated
world and which had a need to have a standard sizing to make prefabrication possible to
provide the best comfort for everyone using a single measurement.
But the Pura Tang Sabtu was built back in the 18th century where everything was hand built
specially on demand. So there was not a huge need for creating mathematical equations and
complex graphs to use as a guide, but the builder usually has his own standard sizes and
reasons he stick to those measurements which would be slowly adapting to the peoples
feedback thus becoming a standard which would be used throughout the village.
Critique
To me the Modulor system is a great concept to help save time and allow the product to be
prefabricated with a lot more ease than before without having to worry about the sizes to
provide for the majority. The downside to this is that people with more different size will
experience a slight discomfort but more often is wont be to the extreme.
This changed the speed of which the world grew in terms of technology advancement and
development in general. If Le Corbusier did not have come up with the Modulor system, it wont
mean that a standardised system wont be achieved but it would have been in a later period of
time where humans would come to develop a similar system.
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