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Info-to-Build-On
Design Folly
by Raoul Hennin
Feb. 10, 2005
Identify the follies
of your dream house.
Celebrate them in your design.
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Folly: |
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1. |
A lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight. |
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2. |
a. An act or instance of foolishness
b. Costly undertaking having an absurd or ruinous outcome...www.websters.com |
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A house provides shelter for people and their possessions. A well-built house will be adapted to multiple owners through its lifetime. Its design will have to reflect the unique character of each of its inhabitants across the range of their personalities. Later owners may well find folly in the original design. But a house that appears to have no foolish details, no special character, is itself a 'folly' because no one would want to live in it. The challenge is to shape original follies well so their use will translate with good humor to future owners.
Architectural folly is structure with no purpose - a waste of resources. Decorative features often become folly as tastes change. But useful features never go out of style and can be disguised as folly. Often a useful structural detail loses its purpose through time (widow's walk, cupola, castle tower), but then continues to be incorporated into designs for nostalgic reasons. Imagine a design feature that at first appears to be true folly, but then surprises with meaningful use in day to day life - what fun!
 
Several years ago, my brother built his barn and placed a large cupola on top. At first, I could not believe he would waste so much time and energy on such a frivolous detail. In older barns a cupola provided ventilation for drying hay or may have served as a bird house or weathervane decoration. But Gaius showed me how the nostalgia of a cupola could be preserved, even enhanced into a truly useful feature. Instead of a 4'x4' box, Gaius built an 8'x8' room with windows all around. On July 4, family and friends climb up inside to see the fireworks in the neighboring town. This special little room is a quiet retreat on top of the world; it is their family tree house in the barn.  
Last summer the Shelter crew visited a remote site in the Adirondacks to build a special mountain side home with attached tower. The 12'x12' tower relies on the main structure for stability and provides living room alcove, library and study spaces on three levels. This folly brings functional living spaces and expansive views which reflect the vision of its owners.
 
What are your follies? Shape them broadly for flexible use in the future and your house will reward you with the freedom of resale value. You will enjoy the satisfaction of utility in daily life as you live in your dream folly house. And future owners will think of you fondly as they inhabit your legacy. It is never too early to start thinking about the folly of your own design ideas. Once you recognize the foolish nature of a particular feature, you can make objective decisions about what to keep and what to let go. Some of your most basic assumptions may emerge, in the light of conscious thought, as pure folly. Conversely, some of the most outrageous ideas may benefit by exaggeration and celebration.
Shelter Institute offers house Design/Build classes throughout the year. You can view our entire schedule online at:
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