On the architectural approach to sexual positions.
Get an Eiffel, The Neo Classical and The Cantilever are just a few of examples of the fifty sexual positions described in Archisutra by a London-based architect Miguel Bolivar.
Dorota Stępniak
Archisutra, published in 2017, is a set of illustrations comprising angles, ergonomics and calculations combined with slogans and objects used by designers on an everyday basis. Bolivar’s unique handbook uses this mosaic of information to translate a collection of inspirations to sexual positions – described in detail in terms of difficulties, interesting architectural facts and useful hints.
The red guidebook includes positions that pay tribute to the following architects: Oscar Niemeyer from Brasil, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from Germany (position Pohe The Boat) or the Spanish artist Antonio Gaudi and a position that is described as breaking with the standard composition and form that – as stressed by Bolivar – the designer was known for. The book also refers to brands: Vitra and Ikea, and to the famous Aluminium Chair used in the Eames it position.
The Archisutra
In his book Towards a New Architecture from 1923, the Swiss architect Le Corbusier depicted houses as “machines for living.” The author of Archisutra pursues this thought and emphasizes that architects continue to treat sex as a taboo, despite the fact that it plays an important social role and is significant in everyday life.
The Archisutra
The Archisutra
Perhaps for this reason the architectural Kama Sutra is also filled with allusions to iconic buildings, such as the above-mentioned Eiffel Tower, Trellick Tower or Centre Pompidou, and with references to the golden ratio (The Golden Ratio position), the cost of consumption of supplies (You-Value) or the well-known situation of pulling an all nighter before the deadline (The All Nighter), to which the author adds that a desk may also be needed for work.
The Archisutra
It took Bolivar two years to write the handbook. He began with a close study of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing based on the calculations made by the Roman architect Vitruvius from around 1490. The drawing of the Vitruvian Man made in pencil and ink depicted a naked man in two superimposed positions inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing represents ideal human body proportions, which were supposed to bring about an improvement of the function and look of architecture. Le Corbusier continued these assumptions in his later work from 1948, The Modulor that presented a stylist figure of a 1.83–metre tall man. The work, based on the golden ratio, developed a model scale of proportions that has been used since then to determine the relationships between the magnitudes of individual building elements, mentioned by Bolivar.
The Archisutra
Seemingly, Archisutra is just another “funny” book, which subject has brought it a lot of popularity among readers; however, it is pertinent to emphasize that it discusses a much broader issue – the adaptation of a building, room or furniture to the factual needs of its users, exceeding the standard solutions and not ignoring any of the human activities.
The Archisutra
The Archisutra