For most of its history, the anthropocentric diagrams of Graphic Standards have presented an image of the human body that is sex‐ and race‐specific. These illustrations reveal at once the selection of certain demographic segments as representative of the population as a whole, as well as the restrictive conception of a preferred or model inhabitant of buildings. The various methods used to represent the body reveal “the human figure” to be male and white. Given the role of Graphic Standards as a principal guide to architectural practice, these diagrams become emblematic of the sexual and racial composition of that practice.
Visual and verbal representations of the body are persistent mechanisms for sustaining the sociopolitical relationships between men and women, and such representations have been integral to architectural discourse. The use of the male body as a model for buildings occurs in various canons of architecture, and the influence of two of these, classicism and modernism, may be seen in Graphic Standards.
woman was considered less important and unsuitable for scientific study, which resulted in a lot of less data available regarding the female body for a long time. Canons of ideal proportions like the Vitruvian man and the Modular are based on the male body and especially the Vitruvian man. Where men were seen as naturally beautiful, the female body always required alterations and improvements.
Graphic Standards appeared at a time when systematic documentation of the body was critical in many disciplines, particularly industry. The science of anthropometry had developed in the late-nineteenth century in order to address the growing desire fora precise understanding of human mechanics. From the start, however, this effort favored men, partly because for many years most studies were conducted by the military. The lack of statistics for women also related to the perceived impropriety of viewing and measuring the female body, as physical examinations were often thought to violate women’s natural modesty and “delicacy.
SAMI MOHAMMED 1001746306
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