Regulating Lines is a design concept in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, which uses proportions of geometry in buildings giving its harmony and order. A prominent architect who espoused this concept was Le Corbusier.

History

Regulating Lines have been used in early buildings like Notre-Dame de Paris and Michelangelo's

Piazza del Campidoglio The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. T ...

in Rome, etc.

Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier argues from historical evidence that great architecture of the past has been guided by the use of what came to be known in English as Regulating Lines. These lines, starting at significant areas of the main volumes, could be used to rationalize the placement of features in buildings. Le Corbusier lists off several structures he claims used this, including a speculative ancient temple form, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Piazza del Campidoglio in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, the

Petit Trianon The Petit Trianon (; French for "small Trianon") is a Neoclassical style château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built between 1762 and 1768 during the reign of King Louis XV of France. ...

, and lastly, his pre-war neoclassical work in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and some more contemporary modern buildings. In each case, he attempts to show how the lines augment the fine proportions and add a rational sense of coherence to the buildings. In this way, the order, the function, and the volume of the space are drawn into one architectural moment. Le Corbusier argues that this method aids in formalizing the intuitive sense of aesthetics and integrating human proportions as well. Le Corbusier claims in the text that no architects trained in the Beaux-arts technique use regulating lines, because of contradictory training, but most of the Grand Prix architects did use them, even if they were supplementing the basic techniques.Abraham, Pol. "'Vers un architecture' par Le Corbusier-Saungnier," pt. 2, L'Architecte 1, no. 3. 1924, p. 18. Le Corbusier used the concept in his early work Villa Schwob in 1916.

References

Architectural design {{ architecture-stub