[ILLUSTRATION]
PLAN OF ST. GALL. MONKS' DORMITORY
A. Facsimile reproduction of the red drawing of the Plan (see caption, page 13, vol. III)
B. Same, with 2½-foot module superimposed
C. Probable scheme by which the layout shown in A was constructed
After the area analyzed in Fig. 59, the
Monks' Dormitory embodies the next most
obvious proof that in designing the Plan, the
maker used an accurately graduated scale.
The basic unit of this scale, the 2½-foot
measure, the designer obtained by halving four
times in succession the width he assigned to
the nave of the Church, its transept, and all
the basic claustral structures (see pp. 89-90
and Ernest Born's diagrams and captions,
pp. 92-93).
A 2½-foot module was a felicitous
size for the basic unit of measurement
applying to a settlement the size of the
monastery of the Plan. It was large enough
to account for critical space (seating,
sleeping) and small enough to obviate the
need to draw in excessive detail, and thus to
cloud the view of the community's buildings.
With a practical understanding, the maker
of the Plan rounded up his dimensions to the
next higher—never the lower—module:
furnishings or features that might, when
installed, lay in size between one and another
module, were drawn to the larger size.
This choice was deliberate. The beds of the
Monks' Dormitory, and all other places
where beds are depicted on the Plan (Abbot's
House, House for Distinguished Guests,
Dormitory for Visiting Monks), are examples
of it. All these beds are assigned a width of
one module and a length of three. One module
2½ feet (30 inches) might be considered
adequate for the width of a monk's cot,
but three modules totalling 7½ feet seems
overly long. However, the space of two
modules, 5 feet, would surely have been too
short for a grown man. The longer increment
allowed the designer to indicate just how
many were expected to sleep in a space the
size of the Dormitory; to suggest a possible
bed arrangement while permitting enough
more space to accommodate furnishings; and,
by accumulation of "extra" measure,
ultimately to account for space required by
such constructional features as wall thick-
nesses and staircases, nowhere specifically
indicated on the Plan. Such issues would have
been resolved as a function of supervision
in actual construction, decisions delegated
to an experienced artisan who not only could
understand and interpret the Plan and its
maker's intentions, but who also knew how
to deal with practicalities of building a
wing to house 76 men. More discussion of
these issues is offered, pp. 112-13, and II,
225ff.
60.