Folly Island
The ocean appears in its current configuration, as a relic of catastrophe. The virtual line separating the water of the earth and the water of the sky is an important figure in the history of the territory of the Netherlands, because it recalls the return to chaos, which is to say the restoration and invasion of waters.

As Rotterdam appears to arise out of the sea, Folly Island appears at the surface of the water among the port landscape of Rotterdam like a new land, a marvel due to its prodigious topography. Folly Island is an artificial island that dares to place it’s limits to the sea and continues to tame the rages of the waters that battles with the permanent menace that is the ocean.

The creation of Folly Island by one single agitated surface and its mirror has a symbolic value. The Netherlands, a sea of prairies, learns from the spectacle of the sky and their admiration for the sea’s surface. The perpetual agitation and movement of the water, the mirrored images of light, the magic of their reflections, and the refraction of the sky by the aquatic mirror, these all composes an enchanting environment that suggests the reversibility of the universe.

The geometry of Folly Island, associated to the movements and tides of the sea draws many meanings: a figure of admiration, a place of surprises where we can contemplate the variations of the sea, a place of meditation and material for thinking. Most importantly, it is a a contact of confrontation and of la folie (French for craziness), a point of contact between the earth, the sea, and the people, The tangling of the two surfaces –inferior and superior- draws both the interior and exterior of the spaces (caverns, basins, jetties, pools, dikes, canals, paths, hilltops) and an enigmatic spaces where the interpenetration of the water, the earth and the sky becomes an extension of the public space of Rotterdam. The association between the sea and la folie, between the sea and the island, dramatizes the relationship between humankind and the sea. The traverse between the territories (littoral and island) is a journey that takes place in the middle of an unstable world (sea) where the users is about to discover his separation, thought his physical disjunction, a reality of the world. In placing ourselves in the centre of the spectacle (centre of the port), Folly Island suggests to the users and the spectators the continued idea between survival and destruction and invites the latter to seize upon the space of the infinite horizontal.

Structure
The spaces formed by the structure and its geometry reflect the fluidity established between the water, sky and earth. The accidental aspect and hollows of the surfaces reveal at first glance a chaotic structure, a sort of correction to the prairies –uniform and infinite. In fact, the structure of the surfaces is a modular system composed of one volumetric base element, the tetrahedron, realized through fiberglass-reinforced polyester plates. The translucent quality of the surfaces permits the passage of natural light and the thickness of the system permits the simultaneous integration of channels, paths, jetties and structural considers. Given that the structure is polyester, the structure and surfaces are automatically floating. The assembly is made possible through a gluing process of the structural and paneling elements. The modules should be prefabricated and finished in a factory to simplify its assemblage on the construction site.

Finally, to the public eye, Folly Island represents the result of une folie in battle with the instability of the world, a spectacle offering the association of unstable natural elements.

Folly Island
Folly Island apparaît à la surface de l’eau, parmi le paysage portuaire de Rottedam, comme une île artificielle qui ose imposer ses limites et qui persiste à dompter ses colères à travers un incessant combat avec l’océan. La géométrie de l’île est associée à la perpétuelle agitation des eaux, mais également à la confrontation et à la folie comme point de contact entre la terre et la mer. L’entrelacement des deux surfaces dessine l’intérieur et l’extérieur des espaces (cavernes, bassins, piscines, canaux, digues, parcours, collines), un espace énigmatique où l’interprétation de l’eau, la terre et le ciel deviennent une extension de l’espace public de Rotterdam.

Folly Island suggère aux l’utilisateur et aux spectateurs l’idée continue entre la survie et la destruction et invite ce dernier à saisir l’espace de l’infini horizontal. La structure de la l’île est un système modulaire composé d’une volumétrie de base, le tétraèdre, réalisé à l’aide de plaques de polyester translucides renforcées qui permettent non seulement le passage de la lumière naturelle mais également une flottaison imminente de la structure.