Tilt, twist, fragment and collide the volumes of a composition, so that no floor is level, no wall upright and no angle square except where the ground forces it.
Rules · Cities · Geometry · Modules
Points: a folie every 120 metres
Set a red folie at every intersection of a 120-metre grid across the whole site; make each a 10.8-metre cube on a 3.6-metre grid, then subtract parts and add stairs, ramps, drums and canopies so that no two are alike.
grid 120 m · cube 10.8 m = 3 × 3.6 m
The folies (the word means both a garden pavilion and madness) were to be given programmes after they were built: a café, a first-aid post, a children’s workshop, a viewing platform. Their red enamel steel makes the grid legible from anywhere in the park; where the grid falls on an older building, the folie is simply omitted or absorbed.
Related rules
Do not compose the park as one picture: lay down independent systems (points, lines and surfaces), each complete in itself, one over another, and let them collide where they meet.
Cross the park with two straight covered galleries at right angles, joining its gates and landmarks, and wind a promenade through it like a film strip, linking a sequence of themed gardens.
Leave large open surfaces (lawns and gravel) for games, crowds, markets and whatever the city brings, defined only by their shape.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “Points: a folie every 120 metres”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/villette-points. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.