Bodily experience and hybrid knowledge in Le Corbusier’s encounter with the Parthenon

Purpose This study aims to redefine architectural measurement not as a technical tool, but as a bodily experience and a “hybrid epistemic practice.” Through Le Corbusier’s experience of visiting the Acropolis in 1911, it argues that the architectural journey is a form of knowledge production. Design/methodology/approach The study reads Le Corbusier’s Journey to the East through a “close reading” lens within the interpretive paradigm. The analysis focuses on narratives and representations of measurement shaped by tension, uncertainty, and bodily perception, which destabilise architectural certainty. Findings The analyses reveal that the Acropolis served as a “knowledge threshold” for Le Corbusier. The experience is defined as a five-stage process, extending from distant observation to bodily measurement, from doubt to acceptance. The study demonstrates that architectural knowledge is generated by the tension between the certainty of measurement and the uncertainty of experience, and that this process gives rise to the “hybrid practitioner”. Practical implications The study emphasises the importance of “slow” spatial interaction, which is increasingly lacking in contemporary architectural education and practice. It argues that methods requiring bodily participation, such as sketching and mapping, rather than rapid digital recording, enhance the architect’s intuitive judgment and “know-how”. Originality/value While Le Corbusier’s journey is widely researched, this study offers a contribution by focusing on the ambiguous thresholds of his encounter, which manifest themselves as personal inner conflict, crisis, curiosity, learning or obeying. By identifying the epistemic thresholds that emerge through narrative ruptures, it demonstrates how architectural knowledge is transformed into a hybrid form through architectural travel.