What is a Folie?

In order to understand the idea of a Folie, we look at Bernard Tschumi's Parc de la villette. A project that essentially redefined the architectural term (Tschumi, 1987).

"For Tschumi, the bright red folies were meant as "activators of space" rather than sculptural objects. They became a sign for La Villette, much in the way that Giles Gilbert Scott's red telephone booths epitomise London or Hector Guimard's Art Nouveau Metro stations provide a leitmotif for the city of Paris (Bure, 2008)." 

Folie (Bure, 2008)

Parc De La Villette Folies (Bure, 2008)

Parc de La Villette layout (Bure, 2008)

"Far more than isolated sculptural objects, the folies appeared at once punctuation, animation and action. The simplicity of their assembly system belied the sophistication of their potential configuration (Bure, 2008)."

A folie is therefore an architectural installation that activates space… That rather than specifies a function allows for multiple translations, that is simplistic yet punctual within the site.


Bure, G. 2008. Paris / La Villette. In. Bernard Tschumi. ed. G. Bure, 47-73. Birkhauser: Basel.  
Tschumi, B., 1987. Cinegram Folie: Le Parc De La Villette, Princeton, N.J: Princeton Architctural Press. pp1-27.