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BODY & BUILDING
Body and building, a relationship where both are correspondence to symmetry and proportion. Human body is said designed by nature which every parts of the body has its own proportion or so called ‘Divine Proportion’ whereas a building is thought to as a system or assembly for human to carry out different kinds of activities within the space. The human body is measured and is used in designing the anthropometrics distance between the human body and tactile objects to orientate the interactions between one another.
“ TO SET DOWN IN CONCRETE FORM… IDEAS ON THE SUBJECT OF A HARMONIOUS MEASURE TO THE HUMAN SCALE, UNIVERSALLY APPLICABLE TO ARCHITECTURE AND MECHANICS… ”, stated by Le Corbusier telling us that buildings should refer to human body for its proportion and different programs should be design corresponding to the suitable anthropometrics ( either in human scale or body size ). Thus, a grid of proportions : ‘ Modulor ’ which is a measuring tool based on the human body and mathematics that will serve as a rule for every projects was raised by Le Corbusier.
In this modern epoch, we can see that quite a number of the buildings are designed related to the structure of human body : a metaphors of the body. Using of human body as the foundation of building design normally can attract more people sight because the outlook are very special compare to other normal buildings.
CCTV Headquarters, Beijing designed by OMA firm can be said referring to the proportion of human being which looks like someone bending over or refer as "big pants" from the locals. The main building is not a traditional tower, but a loop of six horizontal and vertical sections of floor space, creating an irregular grid on the building's facade with an open center. The steel framing used in construction is metaphor to the bones of human leg which is to improve the stability, but however, is considered to be a structural challenge because it is in a seismic zone. On the overall, the building itself is quite symmetry ( tower 1 and tower 2 are in same scale ) and both towers are placed proportionally, which can be relate to the Modulor system.
This museum in the Netherlands is dedicated to Human Biology : Corpus Building ( Building Shaped Like a Man ). It was built by Wolbrand van der Vis. Corpus is a human science intelligent exhibition hall that gives its guests complete adventure through the human’s procedure body : a 'journey through the human body'. The opening or the entrance is located through the man’s legs. As going up the escalator, the museum opens into a giant sore located on a man’s knee ( metaphor to the limp of the knee and the escalator is seen as the ligament connection ). Thus denotes one moment in the corridors of the intestines, the hollow of the uterus, hop you through the lungs and heart ; the other point denotes an eye, nose or ear, and watch you disappear as a visitor in the inside of a mouth, while just one roll is swallowed them down. It likewise sorts out that different parts of space have its own particular uses, just like human body where each part has its own function.
As for the conclusion, the relationship between body and building are well linked together either physically, emotionally, psychologically or spiritually. “ A DELICATE AND INTERESTING PIECE OF WORK, A PRETTY OBJECT TO PUT SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE TECHNICIAN’S PRECISION TOOLS… ”, remarked by Le Corbusier mention that there must be a rule set for the measurement of buildings and hence human body was used as the medium (Modular) because human figures is a ‘divine proportion’ or the golden ratio. The role of a building is to houses human that occupied the space with certain uses, thus a building should be designed according to the suitable proportion.
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