Not all architecture is built for use. Some structures do not house anyone, protect anything, or solve any modern need. They simply exist. And in their stillness, in their absurdity or elegance, they compel us to do the same pause, reflect, and just be.
Take a walk through Delhi’s Qutub Complex and you will encounter a curious relic called the Smith’s Folly. It is a chhatri, a domeshaped pavilion, that once stood atop the mighty Qutub Minar. Added by Major Robert Smith of the British Indian Army in an act that he perhaps thought was noble, it turned out to be so aesthetically out of place that Lord Hardinge ordered its removal. Now it sits quietly within the complex, stripped of any real function or status, labeled a ‘folly’ for its lack of reason and harmony.
But maybe that was the point all along.
In Paris, Bernard Tschumi’s red architectural structures at Parc de la Villette have no clear utility. They are bright, bold, scattered across the park, and unapologetically unnecessary. Yet, philosopher Jacques Derrida saw them as statements. These follies, he argued, are provocations deliberate interruptions in our understanding of what architecture should be. They expose the fine line between logic and madness, function and beauty. They exist for no reason except to remind us that not everything has to make sense.
This is where the magic lies. These structures, whether misunderstood or intentionally bizarre, serve as places for stillness. In a world obsessed with progress and productivity, they become anchors. They are spaces that do not ask for selfies or serve trending hashtags. Instead, they offer something rarer. Silence. Ambiguity. A moment to think without purpose.
These monuments do not try to impress. They invite you to feel.
They can be found across the world. Sometimes in an empty garden in Kyoto where raked gravel meets mosscovered rocks, or sometimes in a forgotten ruin on a misty hill in Himachal. You might not read about them in tourist guides. But you will remember the moment you stood before them, puzzled yet comforted.
Not everything needs to be understood. Not everything needs a reason.
Some things are built just to slow us down.
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