(RFS) The Raven

In addition to a highly productive life of weirdness, Le Corbusier wrote on the similarity of automobiles to the parthenon.

He uses these examples to illustrate the role of standardisation in design thinking.

Beginning with the definition that "standards are a matter of logic, analysis, and minute study..." Le Corbusier moves toward the problem of perfection; or the problem of the perfect standard.

Le Corbusier likens the development of standards in the pursuit of perfection to the birth of a unified style that follows distinct rational elements and heralds the emergence of the "essential."

He uses an interesting word to describe the refuse produced in the pursuit of the essential. He calls it the "essential overplus" that either manifests itself in the form of decoration (for the peasant) or proportion (for the civilized man).

I find it interesting that Le Corbusier makes room for ornament but puts it on the same plane as proportion.

I would agree that ornament will always exist, as will proportion, but I had not thought to think about it in terms of an essential by product of design progress.