[Greenbuilding] "(Wo)Man is the measure of all things" (was Re: metric system in building)

[Rob Tom]

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:08:20 -0400, Speireag Alden <speireag at gmail.com>  
wrote:


>  a cubit is the distance from fingertipto elbow,
> els... the length of women's forearms.

Ultimately, the system of measurement that we are comfortable with, is  
that which we know and I would venture that that which we know best, is  
our own bodies.

Leonardo (da Vinci, not di Caprio) probably best illustrated this notion  
with his drawing "The Vitruvian Man" (Google it if you are unfamiliar with  
the name but you will recognise the drawing)

I think that everyone would benefit by making a similar drawing of  
themselves and transposing whatever units of measurement they are most  
comfortable with, to those proportions depicted by Lenny's drawing.

When drawing the circle that circumscribes out outstretched arms and legs,  
note that we have been blessed with a handy natural reference point for  
our geometric centre ... our navels.

And our autoanthroprocentric measurements can be amazingly accurate,  
whether it be in terms of pacing off the length and width of a field to  
determine that it's 18 hectares or whether it be handspanning a length of  
eavestrough to determine that it is 21 feet, 6 and 3/4 inches.

Me ? I grew up with inches/feet/miles but learned to appreciate the metre  
so like most Canadians of my vintage, are (as a farmer once labelled me  
when he saw me using a hammer, switching from right hand to left hand)  
"expidextrous".

It seems that it is only with lumber products that we are still "stuck" in  
the Imperial system of measurement. Structural steel, unit masonry etc  
switched over long ago.

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at chaffY a h o o  dot  c a >
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