With “Moduli”, Marlene Iman Ortner designs multifunctional modular acoustic elements that explore the diversity of shapes in architecture.
 

“Moduli” is a contemporary exploration of Le Corbusier’s “Modulor” measurement system, developed in 1942, an anthropometric system based on the Golden Ratio and the proportions of an average male body that has shaped much of his architectural work. Marlene Iman Ortner’s reinterpretation challenges this supposed standard and its claim to neutrality. As a three-dimensional “Cadavre Exquis” – a method developed in Surrealism to give free rein to chance – “Moduli” presents a more pluralistic image of bodies in architecture: soft, curved, large, small, male, female, and everything between and beyond. The modular acoustic panels function simultaneously as seating, columns, play objects, and effective sound absorbers.

Developed as part of the seminar “Applied Acoustics” at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna.