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Le Corbusier publishes the Modulor, a man-with-arm-raised measuring system that universalises one male body as housing scale

In 1948 Le Corbusier issued The Modulor, a red-and-blue scale from a 1.83 m (later 6-foot) man with arm raised, to govern Unité and other works. In the causal graph this event weakens Protection of Minority Rights, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — a worsening welfare path.

Read the full account

In 1948 Le Corbusier issued The Modulor, a red-and-blue scale from a 1.83 m (later 6-foot) man with arm raised, to govern Unité and other works. He did not measure every occupant. Split from the industrial-standard improving row of the same book. Archival locator: Fondation Le Corbusier — English portal at https://www.fondationlecorbusier.fr/en/ (opens in a new tab) (Fondation Le Corbusier). Independent locator: MoMA — Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) at https://www.moma.org/artists/3426 (opens in a new tab) (Museum of Modern Art).

Context

Charlotte Perriand’s furniture bodies are another atelier. Later feminist and disability critiques of the Modulor man are reception.

Why it matters

A famous male module as ‘the’ human is a rights path of modest size. Medium confidence. Later inclusive-design codes are not 1948.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Le Corbusier

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.24 · verified

    He authored Modulor (1948) and Modulor 2 (1955). Engineers and Unité used the scale. Direct as author of a body-standard.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactLe Corbusier publishes the Modulor, a man-with-arm-raised measuring system that universalises one male body as housing scale
    2. weakensDriverProtection of Minority Rights
    3. strengthensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.25 · Effect from 1 January 1948 · verified

    A published anthropometric module from one male silhouette is a modest rights path of medium confidence: the exclusion is in the figure; unique harm to other bodies is not a census.

    • Having a say in government

      via Protection of Minority Rights

      Worse

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.11 (weight 0.25 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      Two readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).

      20212023

      Above normal = better

    • Rule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score

      via Protection of Minority Rights

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.11 (weight 0.25 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.

      Normal is zero · any amount = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.MoMA — Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret)Museum of Modern Art · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Fondation Le Corbusier — English portalFondation Le Corbusier · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Fondation Le Corbusier independently presents Modulor as his proportion system. MoMA independently collects Modulor objects and books. Britannica independently mentions the system. No unique exclusion census is invented.

Established: 1948 Modulor as his. Not established: a unique harm series. Split from the industrial row. Not 1955 Modulor 2 as a second doctrine-Fact — one system.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Mixed effects of Le Corbusier publishes the Modulor, a man-with-arm-raised measuring system that universalises one male body as housing scale are separate paths.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

The contribution type is direct. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Shared responsibility is part of Le Corbusier publishes the Modulor, a man-with-arm-raised measuring system that universalises one male body as housing scale. Naming Le Corbusier does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1948-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorLe Corbusier
  2. contributed toFactLe Corbusier publishes the Modulor, a man-with-arm-raised measuring system that universalises one male body as housing scale
  3. weakensDriverProtection of Minority Rights
  4. strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Le Corbusier publishes the Modulor, a man-with-arm-raised measuring system that universalises one male body as housing scale. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/lc-modulor-body-standard

https://factrail.ai/facts/lc-modulor-body-standard

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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