As he became more experienced in architecture at the Le Corbusier office (1947-1959), Xenakis studied music composition with the French composer Olivier Messien (1908-1992). Messien advised Xenakis to find musical inspiration from his Greek roots, his studies as an engineer and his work as an architect. Applying this advice, he based his first pieces on two basic elements, Modulor and the use of the micrometer paper [Sven Sterken, 2007]
He used Modulor to organize time in a reasonable way. Based on the Fibonacci sequence (1,2,3,5,8,13 …) and the golden section, Modulor is a metric system used by Le Corbusier in 1950 to culminate in a neo-Pythagorean movement in Western European culture.
He applied this logic to the orchestral piece: Le Sacrifice (1953), where he produced the entire ensemble based on eight tones and eight durations whose prices were taken from the Fibonacci scale. [Sven Sterken, 2007]
Xenakis research on rhythmic patterns proved inspired in the design of the well-known “wavy glass panels” on the view of the monastery La Tourette.
Metastasis – Phillips Pavilion (Glissandi)
Xenakis resorted to the numerical proportions and to the Metastasis (1954) to determine the structure and microstructure. Metastasis are sound volumes based on simple straight lines, the glissandi. [Ioannis Xenakis, 2001]
The idea of continuous tweaking to move from one acoustic state to another (loud-gentle, high-low, fast-slow) without being readily perceived was his main concern at the time.
After the completion of Metastasis, Xenakis will create a dynamic architectural example inspired by Philips Pavilion’s double-curved surfaces in 1958 in Brussels.
The similarities between the Philips Pavilion and Metastasis have come from the same idea, namely the constant change between two characteristic situations.
III.2. Libeskind: The experience of space and music as an inspiration
Libeskind was born in Poland in 1946 and then left as a refugee for America where he obtained American citizenship. Both of his parents were of Jewish origin and survivors of the holocaust. As a young man, Libeskind learned to play the accordion and soon became a virtuoso.
