Folly for Friedrich Nietzche
Turin, Italy
Year | 2011
Phase | Concept
Size | 300m²
Categories | Design
Folly for Friedrich Nietzsche is a pavillion to commemorate the great Philosopher in the city of Turin, where he wrote "Ecce Homo" and experienced his mental collapse.
The Context:
Turin, known for its elegant Baroque architecture and intellectual history, was the last home of Friedrich Nietzsche before his mental collapse in 1889. The philosopher spent some of his most lucid and productive months in this city and here wrote "Ecce Homo". It was in Turin, on a quiet street near Piazza Carlo Alberto, that Nietzsche experienced the breakdown that ended his writing life.
Despite this profound connection, Nietzsche remains largely forgotten in Turin’s cultural memory, with only a hidden inscription remembering the philosopher. It is time to erect a monument to honor his legacy and acknowledge the city’s role in shaping one of modern philosophy’s most influential thinkers.
The design:
Two stairs spiral around two existing trees, choreographing an ascent that is also a confrontation.
Only by descending the opposite side
can one fully experience the pavilion loop,
for the path forward always demands a return, a reckoning.
The two sides are connected
by a narrow streel structural ring,
suspended like a question over the void.
To step onto it is to leave the safety
of the granite landing
and embrace the vertigo of becoming.
Here, one walks as Nietzsche’s tightrope walker—
between beast and Übermensch,
between comfort and courage.
Only the intrepid will step down and walk to the other side. Overcoming fears and making danger their calling,
they will truly embrace the folly.
To cross is not merely to traverse, but to affirm life as folly, risk, and self-overcoming.
