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Relying on Punctum

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Introduction

Thesis: This essay looks at the Beistegui apartment and is its link to the philosophical

concept of Punctum. The apartment was a unique piece of architecture. Many of its

characteristics made it quite appealing. The initial drawings for the apartment detail a new

perspective in architecture. This been with the periscope and fireplace. The drawing follows the

specific 1:50 axonometric drawings. The main features of the room, the fireplace, and periscope

emerged much later during the process of design. These were better drafted in the section,

elevation, and plan drawings.i The emerging structure is characterized with Punctum. Essentially,

it contains details that have a link with the person of an object within it.

Beistegui Apartment

The architecture under analysis is the Beistegui Apartment that was constructed between

1929-1931.It is located in Central Paris on the sixth floor of the 136 Avenue des Champs-

Elsyse. It contains a curious periscope that is known as the camera obscura. It is contained in a

small pavilion on the rooftop of the apartment. It is capsule shared, and the apartment has

emerged as a puzzling and exotic work by the Architect. It was described as pleasing for great

men and scholars and ingenious persons to behold.ii This was the work of Le Corbusier. The

apartment was not a place to reside but rather a place for fun and amusement. There is a variety

of reasons to detail the idea behind the apartment.iii Charles de Beistegui, the apartments client,

came with a vision of extravagant oddities. The apartment is also located right in the center of

Paris.

The client was a wealthy, and his lifestyle was often seen as excessive neoclassical styles.

Indeed, this major trait would influence the design of the apartment. He sought to be considered

among those who lived an unusual lifestyle. Many modernist architects were called upon to
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design the apartment. According to van den Bergh (2013), seized every opportunity to throw

parties

and banquets in his many (self-decorated) residences with friends from aristocratic, moneyed,

and artistic

circles.iv The architects that were considered besides Le Corbusier include Gabriel Guevrekian,

Pierre Jeanneret, and Andre Lurcat. They were all required to make an initial design of the

apartment in one axonometric and orthographic drawing based on a 1:50 scale. They were not

aware of what the other was doing.v These drawings together with the estimates of the

construction were to be finalized by the end of May 1929. Le Corbusier was awarded the

commission in the following month. He was quite interested in the project even though it was a

fact that the other architects much have made beautiful drawings.vi The architect even wrote a

letter to the client commenting that the project would prove effective in solving the roofing needs

of Paris, and it would be one of the biggest projects. According to Le Corbusier, solution to the

roofs of Paris.vii
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Figure 1: Beistegui apartment

Many architects believe that the construction has a link to surrealism. The initial development of

the design was reliant on the collective process. This involved minimal points of reference that

were aspects of an accustomed reality. This was changed to a more complicated form through a

strategy that entailed the integration of metaphorical possibilities of differences and similarities.

In this context, Le Corbusier is the first architect who began to use fragments that comprise the

positive vision. Moreover, the interiors are characterized by a combination of elements and the

overall use of space that are influenced by the environment. The apartment has a chamber known

as the chamber ceil ouvert that is considered as both a closed interior and open space.viii In this

regard, the structure and be described based on different perspectives. This details the contextual

characteristics of the structure about nature, the city, and room. The dwelling has many

indicators and symbols. According to Vesely, the juxtaposition of elements and the overall

layering of space are motivated entirely by situational criteria.ix

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Figure 2: Beistegui apartment exterior

Peter Carl has been a proponent that supports the notion of analogical relationships that

arise from the building. It details a link between the sky and the room, a carpet and tended grass.

The term chimney is further related to the iconography of the Corbusian. This creates a

relationship that goes beyond iconography and from. The visitors to the room are exposed to

unique situations. As visitors arrive, they will cross many metaphorical fragments. The sequence

of events first begins the spiral staircase that looks like a corkscrew. The room is accessed

through this stairway from the entertainment room located below.x

Conceptual idea

Figure 3: Beistegui apartment

Punctum

The structure and formation of the Beistegui Apartment show that it is relying on

Punctum. Punctum is considered as something the wounds and pierces the observer. The
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punctum arises from some aspects of the room that influence the psyche both non-rationally and

directly. The reaction to the apartment is a unique experience for an individual that no one else

can comprehend. Moreover, a culturally determined image can also lead to personal punctum-

like responses. Barthes details that the experience is a predictable studium that is culturally

defined. The individual will be attracted to an image that is appealing based on reasons that the

individual is not aware of and cannot explain.xi This means that it affects the person somewhere

in the psyche. This would mean that the room has a soul that would affect anyone that visited it.

The predictable aspects of the room also tend to go unnoticed.xii A dull, boring, and familiar age,

such as the view of the sky, arouses minimal attention. However, among the general views

whose basis is the culture, there are random images that contain a quality that arises from the

scene and attracts the individual.

The Beistegui Apartment is considered as an unexpected intrigue that draws the viewer

in. The room calls to the viewer and is exemplified demanding attention. The power of the

apartment does not depend on the viewers interest of the subject since the image is so powerful

that it can stand on its own. Punctum does not have to be the obvious source. Minimal details can

also be an obvious source. In this context, the small details make the most differences in its

influence. In marks the viewer, changing something inside them. Moreover, it can change when

the experiences of the individual are applied to it. There is a give and take the relationship

between the object and the viewer. This improves the context and makes a dreamy moment vivid

and alive again. This is considered as a theatrical characteristic of architecture, and it is

comparable to an actor that has a body that is both alive and dead. The room details moments

suspended in time, and its contains dead moments that can be brought to life by the observer.
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Many aspects can change something from the norm to the interesting. This can include

the emotion, backstory, and message or event that details that add power to the architecture.
xiii
Determining that something is powerful in intuitive. Barthes guides this evolution by defining

the vague interesting from the extremely wonderful. Through punctum and studium, images are

defined based on these categories. This ensures that the viewer can analyze the picture more

precisely. This would entail looking at what interest the person and determining why. Studium is

often considered as an enthusiastic commitment to an image. The individual will take part in the

architecture and will enjoy it.xiv However, this will not occur at a deeper level. It creates

something for the observer to connect to, but is not very attractive to an extent that it would draw

their emotions, feelings, and beliefs. Studium designs detail general interest, dislikes, and

preferences of a person. In this regard, studium for an individual is not applicable to the next

individual. It relies on the viewers perception and is subjective in nature.

The difference between studium and punctum is that ability to convert what is staged

more graphic. The studium image is only enjoyed and not reflects upon. On the other hand, the

Beistegui Apartment is something that encourages the viewer to reflect upon. It creates an

interesting story and shape, encouraging the individual to question what they see. The body is

staged even though it looks very natural. Moreover, the location and the periscope is a final

addition for the Beistegui Apartment powerful statement.xv It creates a comfortable moment that

affects the viewer. The theater of architecture comes alive in the room and attracts the audience.

It emerged as more than just a figuration of the fixed. It becomes a moment that the visitor is

invited to take part in, making it more influential.

In architectural terms, the stairway was set afloat in the entertainment room (See figure

1). It did not link with any other aspects of the architecture It also touched the ground in a fragile
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manner. The black threads were also narrow, and it was possible for only a single person to

access the stairway at a time. The stairway was more like a ladder instead of a typical stairway. It

could be considered as a temporary structure that had been placed in the room or had been cast

out from the circular home located at the bottom of the Camera obscura pavilion. Peter Carl has

also compared the stairway to Jacobs ladder. In this context, it shows the move from the region

of water below to the place where the heavens meet with the horizons. Essentially, the architect

sought to create a feeling that is known as the awakening to creativity. The axis of revolution is

represented with the vertical handrail where the transformation in the spatial context is recreated.

The left side has a vertical track that the spatial transformation is represented. The visitors into

the apartment will begin the ascent from the huge black carpeted floor.xvi This acts as a

representative of water. The individual, with the help of their left hand, can then go on the rail in

a spiral to the rail above. This acted as a foyer between the imaginations of the city and the

everyday life in Paris.

When the guests arrive at the top of the staircase, they will be exposed to the small, dark

camera obscura pavilion. The choice to include the periscope in the pavilion was made after the

plans for the apartment were established in June 1930. However, there is a debate whether this

aspect was included due to the request of Beistegui or Le Corbusier. It is believed to be a

realization of the concepts established by Lurcat and Guevrekian as was required by the brief

provided by Le Corbusier. Moreover, the periscope was not present in Le Corbusiers initial

plan. The other architects made drawings of an open belvedere rooftop with a sundial. The

sundial is used to represent the fundamental concept of time. The camera obscura is also

covetous.xvii This Latin word means darkened chamber. This is an optical instrument that

predates photography, and is used in the production of a similar but reversed reproduction of an
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exterior picture that appears in a dark roomxviii. This occurs as light goes through a small

aperture. Initially, it is a principle that is known as antiquity.

It effect arises from the slow and quite phenomena, and this stems from the time taken for

the light to adjust to the swift change in light that enters it. It creates a ghostly appearance of the

city that would lead to the development of the uncanny environment. The ground plan of the

pavilion was established geometrically by the vesical piscis alignment. Moreover, the Notre

Dame de Paris is vital to the configuration. This is an icon of imperishable heritage.

Figure 4: Floor plan

The situation of the room in which the view is projected determines its perception. This does not

depend on whether it is in its unaltered state or when consciously manipulated. In this regard
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even if the images produced by the camera obscura are unbiased, which means that they are

unaffected by technology, every connection is not merely receptive. Essentially, it is

transformative in nature. In this regard, the transformation arises from the small pavilion that is

lozenge-shaped that exist in a specific building on the Campus-Elysee. Essentially, it was linked

to the urban and historical context of the city, which was important for Le Corbusier and the

Surrealists.xix

Figure 5: Entertainment room with spiral stairway

The ground plan of the Camera obscura is also considered as emerging from the Vesica Piscis

based on the conventional configurations. This was a feature by Le Corbusier in the 1937 world

exposition. The right side of the photomontage contained the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral that
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detailed a secluded vesical piscis form. A horizontal line extends to form the left of the room,

tracing the top of the Arc de Triomphe and the lower level of the Pantheon.xx

Conceptual understandings

According to Le Corbusier, Paris had a unique perspective that can be expressed through

architecture in the distinctive profile of the horizon. The horizons were developed in five steps.

This was essential to achieve the purpose of the construction. It began with the medieval city that

retained its central piece, the Notre Dame. It also contains the Neoclassical Paris with the

Pantheon, classical city with the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Basilique du Sacre Coeur, and the

Arc de Triomphe. He considered these features as the imperishable heritage of Paris.xxi These

have merged to comprise part of the architects imagination of Paris. The Beistegui apartment

detailed a staged version of the city of Paris. The impact of the rooftop was that it was effective

to hide some aspects of Paris while leaving other cultural monuments exposed. This would

influence the visit to follow a different point of view of the city.

It is a fact that Le Corbusier was aware of the architecture of the middle ages. He sought

to integrate the working methods in its designs. According to Le Corbusier, the specific attributes

of the designs were transmitted through word of mouth. Books did not exist, and the rule that

guided harmony was delicate and complicated. The 20th-century constructions have often made

use of surrealist methods. Indeed, the apartment relies on punctum. Space in its modern

inhabitation, realization, and rational conception is measured based on the totalizing autonomy.

The basic design of the modernist house did not allow the subject to become and influence the

determination of its identity. The base and material source of the punctum conceptualization is

part of a surrealist method. It allows the individual to see the work as a multiplicity that makes it

possible to conjecture different perceptions and feelings. This would entail taking some aspects
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of everyday life, combining them and coming up with a new way where individuals can take part

through conjecture.

The Beistegui Apartment provides varying cultural expenses and viewpoint that is not the

norm. It connects cultural and people, suggesting an alternative life. It is possible to learn about

by entering the Beistegui Apartment, but much more will be added through the visitors personal

experiences relating to what they see. This leads to the development of a mutual sharing

experience. This is a vital and unique aspect. The bruises and markers that are left behind are the

manifestations of the power of life that is detailed in a photograph. Since the room is very

simplistic, it lacks sufficient detail for the eye to latch onto. This makes it flat. This inclination is

counteracted with the periscope. There are contradictory elements that make it very attractive.

Even though the details of the Beistegui Apartment create an excellent composition may have no

more substance than that. Peter Carl details that the main impact of the architecture on the

rooftop was intended to mask out the city beside a few cultural monuments. This is considered as

staging the city and creates a new perspective.xxii The apartment creates a new view of the city,

and it is invented by the theater of the 19 the century. This fact has led to a further critique of the

relevance of the Pavilion de lEsprit Nouveau by Le Corbusier. It contained the main pavilion

that appears as a full-scale prototype of what should be the perfect urban apartment. It also

contained an exhibition annex with two large exedra-like rooms that were created as

counterpoints of the single dwelling. It presented dioramas of two of the architects vast urban

schemes this was he Plan Voisin (1925) and the contemporary city that could cater to three

million citizens.xxiii This was a plan that would entail demolishing a large part of the center of

Paris. This was in accordance to the nineteenth-century dioramas that sought to detail the city as

situated instead of alternative locations that are exotic. Indeed, this details the mastery over
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common space and the city.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Beistegui Apartment relies on Punctum. It contains a dual character,

and any individual who views the room will encounter an experience that differs from individual

to individual. The room is artfully controlled manipulated and constructed in that it can detail

fictional presences, communicate thoughts, and manipulate feelings. The Beistegui Apartment

creates a strong connection between the visitor in the room and the environment around them. It

is a powerful room that leads to thoughts and question among anyone who visits it. It provides a

new cultural experience and viewpoints that would not have normally been encountered.
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Bibliography

Anderson, Ross. 2015. "All of Paris, Darkly: Le Corbusier's Beistegui Apartment, 1929-1931."

Conference Paper, 1-16.

Corbusier, Le. 2013. Towards a New Architecture. New York: Dover Publications.

Le Corbusier, The City of Tomorrow [Urbanisme, 1924], trans. Frederick Etchells, Cambridge,

Mass.: MIT Press, 1929.

Heathcote, Edwin. 2010. "Objects and aura: Edwin Heathcote is beguiled by a London exhibition

on the surreal in familiar settings." Financial Times 7.

Trocme, Suzanne. 1999. "Blank canvas." Interior Design 70 (12): 158-163.

Vesely, Dalibor. Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment in Robin Middleton, ed., The

Idea of the City, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996. pp. 10821.

i
Trocme, Suzanne. 1999. "Blank canvas." Interior Design 70 (12): 158-163.
ii
Ibid. 154
iii
Corbusier, Le. 2013. Towards a New Architecture. New York: Dover Publications, 4-77.
iv
Anderson, Ross. 2015. "All of Paris, Darkly: Le Corbusier's Beistegui Apartment, 1929-1931." Conference Paper,
1-16.
v
Ibid. 19.
vi
Corbusier, 244-277.
vii
Dalibor Vesely, Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment in Robin Middleton, ed., The Idea of the City,
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996, p. 115.
viii
Heathcote, Edwin. 2010. "Objects and aura: Edwin Heathcote is beguiled by a London exhibition on the surreal in
familiar settings." Financial Times 7
ix
Vesely, Dalibor. Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment in Robin Middleton, ed., The Idea of the City,
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996. pp. 10821.
x
Anderson, Ross. 2015. "All of Paris, Darkly: Le Corbusier's Beistegui Apartment, 1929-1931." Conference Paper,
1-16.
xi
Dalibor Vesely, Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment in Robin Middleton, ed., The Idea of the City,
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996, p. 115.
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xii
Trocme, Suzanne. 1999. "Blank canvas." Interior Design 70 (12): 158-163.
xiii
Heathcote, Edwin. 2010. "Objects and aura: Edwin Heathcote is beguiled by a London exhibition on the surreal in
familiar settings." Financial Times 7
xiv
Anderson, Ross. 2015. "All of Paris, Darkly: Le Corbusier's Beistegui Apartment, 1929-1931." Conference Paper,
1-16.
xv
Trocme, Suzanne. 1999. "Blank canvas." Interior Design 70 (12): 158-163.
xvi
Ibid, 159-157.
xvii
Anderson, Ross. 2015. "All of Paris, Darkly: Le Corbusier's Beistegui Apartment, 1929-1931." Conference
Paper, 1-16.
xviii
Vesely, Dalibor. Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment in Robin Middleton, ed., The Idea of the City,
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996. pp. 10821.
xix
Ibid, 109
xx
Ibid, 111
xxi
Trocme, Suzanne. 1999. "Blank canvas." Interior Design 70 (12): 158-163.
xxii
Heathcote, Edwin. 2010. "Objects and aura: Edwin Heathcote is beguiled by a London exhibition on the surreal
in familiar settings." Financial Times 7
xxiii
Trocme, Suzanne. 1999. "Blank canvas." Interior Design 70 (12): 158-163.