London's Antepavilion charity has launched its annual pavilion competition without the Architectural Foundation, which has withdrawn due to legal battles.
What is it about follies that we find so enticing? Perhaps it is their variety – real ruins, fake ruins, monumental columns, ornamental cottages, dovecotes and even gazebos can all be encompassed by the term. Perhaps it is the fact that many are essays in ‘pure architecture’, built with no function in mind other than to delight and entertain. Or perhaps it is the hubris inherent in the name, which calls to mind the aspirations of those who built them – invariably eccentric and sometimes downright mad.
The imaginative and even emotional pull of these structures is borne out by the existence of the Folly Fellowship, a pressure group founded to ‘protect, preserve and promote’ follies everywhere. By everywhere, I of course mean primarily England, for the folly seems to be a curiously English phenomenon, a manifestation of the fabled eccentricity of its inhabitants. Certainly, in discussing the folly, the word ‘eccentric’ never seems to be far off. Some can take it to ext
The AJ’s top10 stories of 2020
The Covid crisis, problems at the RIBA and the Antepavilion sharks – the AJ looks at the pick of the stories from 2020
The most popular story of the year on the AJ s website. However it certainly wasn t the only one about the RIBA s troubles in 2020. Allford was encouraged to stand for president by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to this article in April. He went on to win.
Advertisement
The architectural profession reacted in different ways and at different speeds to the emerging Coronavirus crisis. This article, published as the initial lockdown began in mid-March when Zoom calls were still a novelty, was one of the first stories to document the day-to-day impact of Covid on practices and their early responses.