CHOISEY ONE POINT

Auguste Choisey, as we have seen, was a profound thinker. And he assiduously believed that his type of axonometric was the only way to draw. To recap, a Choisey Axonometric is the one where you, the viewer, are looking up into the building as if you are under it. Or to use the vernacular, the worm’s eye view.

As we have seen or will see in these pages, there are established drawing projection systems; namely the linear perspective, isometric, etc. Yet there are many variations within each of these segments. So for example a perspective can be a one point, two point, or three point, and still be within the visual phenomenon.

Over the centuries, various thinkers have combined some of these drawing systems. For instance, the section perspective is just what it says. You draw a section of your building or object, and then you project from that a single point perspective. It does give some sense of space. Yet this is not a common drawing projection.

So in this spirit, how about a Choisey One Point Perspective? This is also just what it sounds like. You create a Choisey projection in which you are looking up at the building. In any Choisey drawing, you always start with the plan. And the plan is drawn at some kind of angular relationship to the orientation of your paper. From that plan you position the vanishing point. And you simply project corners and planes to that vanishing point. But instead of an axonometric, you draw a single point perspective.

The drawing above of Villa Savoye by LeCorbusier is a Choisey Perspective. In this image, you are looking up at the building, as if you are under it and looking towards the sky. This projection emphasizes that the interior ramp system is at the center of the composition. It also provides an overlay of the three essential layers of the building; you can begin to understand how the three plan layers start to interact volumetrically. It asks the question of how such disparate plan shapes can combine into such an iconic building.

As Giedion stated in Space, Time and Architecture, ‘It was (Le Corbusier’s) aim to incorporate in the house the floating counterbalance of forces, the lightness and openness…” “He showed us how to model all the surfaces of a house – above and below as well as at the sides…” p541.

I believe that a transparent drawing helps to capture these premises in one drawing. When you are able to integrate these diverse expressions into one drawing, you will gain a much deeper knowledge of the building you are studying and thus the underlying impetus of the creator.