The Archisutra: The Handbook's Final Chapter

The Archisutra is a design manual giving you the necessary data for a selection of sex positions, using annotated scale drawings and informative descriptions.

Swiss architect Le Corbusier coined the phrase ‘machines for living’, within his book, ‘Towards an Architecture’ in 1923. Sex plays a large role in society and everyday life. So, why is it so often overlooked when an architect designs a building?

The Archisutra raises the question: How should we design for sex?

In 1490 Leonardo da Vinci sketched the Vitruvian Man, a diagram showing the proportions of man based on the writings of Vitruvius in 400AD. The sketch of the Vitruvian Man depicts the perfect male form as seen by Vitruvius. Vitruvius aimed to discover the mathematical proportions of the human body and use the findings to improve the function and appearance of architecture.

In more modern times, the architect Le Corbusier devised an anthropometric scale of proportions, a further development from Vitruvius’ work. He called his system The Modulor. The Modulor, was a standard model of the human form used by Le Corbusier to determine the correct amount of living space needed for residents in his buildings.

The Archisutra follows on from the work of Vitruvius, da Vinci and Le Corbusier and pushes the idea that buildings should be designed around human life.