One single thought

The Greeks on the Acropolis set up temples which are animated by a single thought, drawing around them the desolate landscape and gathering it into the composition. Thus, on everypoint of the horizon, the thought is single. - Towards a new architecture, Le Corbusier, 1923

Le Corbusier wants to show architecture as a creation of the human mind. In his essay, he introduces Phidias, whose name we owe the symbol ф, the secret code of the golden ratio,as the most significant Greek sculptor. Phidias completed the Parthenon after Ictinos, as engineer/architect, determined the temple's proportions. Le Corbusier does not elaborate further on Ictinos as the engineer/architect but concentrates on the harmonious characterof a possible measurement system used by Ictinos. For Le Corbusier, Phidias is the one who 'decorated' the Parthenon with sculptures of the Greek gods (including Athena) and made use of plasticity. In doing so, he gave the building its 'noble spirituality.' According to Le Corbusier, this 'noble spirituality' turns the temple into architecture.