The masculine and the masculinity in architecture

Abstract

From the Antiquity to Modernity, the discipline's treatises that discuss the precepts of good Western architecture have chosen the male body as the appropriate proportionality parameter for the building conception. These writings also often associates the male body as a reference of austerity, rigor, rationality and objectivity. However, the body and the male considered as canonical by the discipline refers only to certain structures, measurements, proportions and attributes. However, the body and the masculinity considered as canonical by the discipline refers only to certain structures, measurements, proportions and attributes. Therefore, it leaves out other expressions of corporeality and masculinity. In this sense, the article examines the architectural role in both cultural and social construction of the ideal male body and masculinity by revisiting the main architectural manuals. Without aiming to propose a new paradigm of the body, this essay explores how some experiences in contemporary art highlight the repetition of virility symbols and expose the canonical structures of masculinity reinforced by the history of architecture.