Folly
Huis Doorn is a nineteenth-century manor house in the town of Doorn in the Netherlands. Surrounding the manor house is a vast garden that features a strong axial effect while it is also conceived as a rather romantic English landscape garden. The folly can be traced back to the latter tradition, constituting a focal point that captures the view from the house.
The folly draws inspiration from the romantic tradition of the ruin. It is a steel sculpture that references the form of a calf shed that once stood on the grounds of the estate. Parts of this volume have been cut away; what remains is an apparently deteriorated structure. Depending on the visitor’s point of view, the profile of the historic barn is still recognizable or is distorted into an abstract form. The intervention forms a contemporary addition to the landscape garden that both reinterprets the romantic tradition and reframes the garden as a whole.
COMMISSION
Province of Utrecht
DATE
2024
LOCATION
Park Huis Doorn, Netherlands (NL)