Folie à Deux

This project is to design a "folie" in the spirit of Tschumi's 'folie's' to be found in La Villete in Paris.

So, what on earth is a “folie”?

My initial thought was, “Shouldn’t that be FOLLY?” No, Folie it is.

From The Free Dictionary: a psychiatry term meaning a psychological disorder of thought or emotion, a more neutral term than mental illness.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/folie

The Medscape Reference site describes an associated disorder, Folie à deux. A shared psychotic disorder that is a rare delusional disorder shared by two or, occasionally, more people with close emotional ties. An extensive review of the literature reveals cases of folie à trois, folie à quatre, folie à famille (all family members), and even a case involving a dog.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/293107-overview

From these two definitions, it can be extrapolated that, our Folie can be experienced by more than one person at any time to encourage ‘dreaming’ (or delusions) regarding the previous/future history of the site, hence, this projects name, Folie à Deux.

For a long time this site was disconnected from the surrounding area after the Howard Smith Company left the site, even though it was occupied by the Water Police and as a storage depot for the government, over time.

In other words, it was forgotten by the city and was regarded as a dumping ground for all sorts of refuse.

Reading - Week 1

Bure, G. (2008). Paris/La Villette. In Bernard Tschumi. G. Bure (ed.), pp. 47-73. Basel: Birkhauser.

La Villette was a former cattle market in the north-east of Paris destined to become an abattoir, then a science park and now a 21^st century park, quite a change in use if you ask me.

This 135 acre site has become home to some amazing ‘sculptures’ called ‘folies’, not ‘follys’, in reference to a structure that lends itself to any function. Instead of a ‘folly’ that does nothing but sit there and looks cute, a ‘folie’ is a structure that does something else, as well as looking good.

I thought Tschumi was quite brave (or loony) to take on such a task when there was only him in his practice, but he was smart enough to collect talented and able people around him to complete the project.

 

I do like the way the ‘promenade’ winds its way through the park, criss-crossing the main axes, it reminded me of a caduceus, the medical symbol, or a vine on a trellis. It breaks up the park into smaller gardens, which could be thought of as a voyage, something like Cullen’s ‘serial vision’.[1] 

The park unfolding in front of you and urging you on to see what is next and it also reminded me of a ‘Moon Gate’ in a formal Chinese garden, the view beyond just peeking through the opening.

Within these gardens, you can find the ‘folies’, each painted bright red, but of differing shapes to create multifunctional spaces within the gardens.

The blue of the sky, the red of the ‘folies’ and the green trees all blend together, along with the people, to  create what looks to be an enjoyable, vibrant place to be. A long way from a cattle market.

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[1] Cullen, G. (1995). The concise townscape. Oxford; Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/2258095263_3ba5c976a9.jpg 
http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/oxford/Oxford_Architecture/0198606788.caduceus.1.jpg

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