A still life in XL size set on a hillside facing the sea: this is a description of The Triple Folly, a building-artwork commissioned by the company Kvadrat for its headquarters, by the German artist Thomas Demand.
A trio of volumes, each representing an object: a sheet of notepaper, a paper plate and a paper hat. Demand challenged the architects of the studio: “Can you transform this idea into architecture?”
The result is a building that is also a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total artwork. It takes its place in the tradition of the architectural caprice, much in vogue from the late 16th century to the 19th. But the tradition has been reinterpreted in a modern, subtly pop spirit.
The project was a direct commission assigned to Demand, and it contains a living area placed inside the “hat”; here we also see a curtain of wooden yarn by another artist, Rosemarie Trockel, which became part of the company’s collection in 2006.
The notepaper and the paper plate, made in fiberglass, respectively contain a meeting room and a kitchen with a dining area. Each volume has an independent entrance, allowing visitors to experience the dialogue of art and architecture as they see fit.
Photo © Nic Tenwiggenhorn
