Abstract
The Philips Pavilion at the Brussels World Fair is the first of Le Corbusier’s architectural works to connect the evolution of his mathematical thought on harmonic series and modular coordination with the idea of three-dimensional continuity. This propitious circumstance was the consequence of his collaboration with Iannis Xenakis, whose profound interest in mathematical structures was improved on his becaming acquainted with the Modulor, while at the same time Le Corbusier encountered double ruled quadric surfaces. For the Philips Pavilion—the Poème Électronic—Corbusier entrusted Xenakis with a “mathematical translation” of his sketches, which represented the volume of a rounded bottle with a stomach-shaped plan. The Pavilion was designed as if it were an orchestral work in which lights, loudspeakers, film projections on curved surfaces, spectators’ shadows and their expression of wonder, objects hanging from the ceiling and the containing space itself were all virtual instruments.
First published as: Alessandra Capanna , “Conoids and Hyperbolic Paraboloids in Le Corbusier 's Philips Pavilion ”, pp. 35–44 in Nexus III: Architecture and Mathematics, ed. Kim Williams, Ospedaletto (Pisa): Pacini Editore, 2000.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Precisely the use of ruled surfaces was yet foreseen for enveloping Chandighar’s assembly hall, designed during approximately the same period as the Philips Pavilion with the contribution of Xenakis , as one can learn reading the letters conserved at the Fondation Le Corbusier , Paris.
- 2.
For more about Xenakis , see (Capanna 2001).
- 3.
Conoids are those ruled surfaces defined by a curvilinear directrix and a couple of straight-lined directrices.
- 4.
- 5.
For the detailed exposition of the demonstration coming down from the equation of hyperbolic paraboloids, see Vreedenburgh (1958).
- 6.
The orchestra opus in which the Modulor defines a strict relationship between tempo and sound. The name derives from “meta” that means beyond, after and “stasis” that means immobility. The problem fascinated the ancient philosophers, beginning with Parmenide and Zenone Their paradox about Achille and the turtle illustrate the very problem about the contrast between movement and immobility. At the same time the whole word metastasis recalls the medical way to speak about the proliferation of carcinogenic cells, as if one can indicate that they are similar to the improvement of the mass density.
References
Almgren, F. 1982. Minimal Surfaces Forms. The Mathematical Intelligencer 4, 4 (1982).
Capanna, A. 2000. Le Corbusier, Padiglione Philips, Bruxelles. Universale di Architettura. Torino: Testo & Immagine.
———. 2001. Iannis Xenakis: Architect of Light and Sound. Nexus Network Journal 3, 1: 19-26.
Emmer, M. 2014. Architecture and Mathematics: Soap Bubbles and Soap Films. Pp 451–460. in Kim Williams and Michael J. Ostwald eds. Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future: Volume II The 1500s to the Future. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Le Corbusier. 1954. The Modulor: A Harmonious Measure to the Human Scale Universally applicable to Architecture and Mechanics. London: Faber and Faber.
Otto, Frei. 1973. Tensile Structure: Design, Structure and Calculation of Building of Cables, Nets and Membranes, Boston: MIT Press.
Restagno, E. 1988. Iannis Xenakis, Torino: EDT/Musica.
Vreedenburgh, C. G. J. 1958. The Hyperbolic Paraboloid and its Mechanical Properties. Philips Technical Review 20, 1 (1958-1959): 9-16.
Xenakis, I. 1976. Musique. Architecture. Paris: Casterman.
———. 1958. Genese de I’Architecture du Pavilion. Revue Technique Philips, 1 (1958).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Capanna, A. (2015). Conoids and Hyperbolic Paraboloids in Le Corbusier’s Philips Pavilion. In: Williams, K., Ostwald, M. (eds) Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_25
Published:
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-00142-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-00143-2
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)