Folly: Torqueing Spheres

Socrates Sculpture Park and The Architectural League of New York are pleased to announce the winning proposal for the 2015 Folly Program—an annual juried competition targeted to early career architects and designers.

Cambridge and Philadelphia-based firm IK Studio won this year’s competition with their innovative proposal, Torqueing Spheres, which transforms a series of intertwining, sculpted forms into a meandering curved folly that encourages social interaction. IK Studio’s proposal was selected from 126 submissions from around the world and reviewed by a jury of five esteemed architects and artists, including David Benjamin (The Living); Leslie Gill (Architect); Sheila Kennedy (Kennedy & Violich Architecture); Alyson Shotz (Artist); and Socrates Sculpture Park Executive Director John Hatfield.

Torqueing Spheres combines a simple concept—a straight line—with complex spherical pods which become deep, self-supporting chambers to create experiences for both the collective and the individual. To construct the voluminous curves of Torqueing Spheres, IK Studio has implemented a material technique that uses a cost-effective method of bending plywood while maintaining a system of control and delivery. By blending folly formalism with innovative material techniques, IK Studio plays off of traditional architectural geometries to create new construction spaces that allow for exploration. (DOWNLOAD WINNING PROPOSAL)

Download the full press announcement.