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Folly 2014: SuralArk

Designed by Austin + Mergold with Marc Krawitz, the winning project of Folly 2014 is inspired by Noah’s Ark, perhaps the first architectural folly.

Made of 2x6 lumber and vinyl siding, the Sural Ark has its material origins in the American suburbia that is surprisingly close to NYC and its formal roots as a (discarded) upturned ship cast ashore.

Whether this was once a house in Levittown now on its way to becoming a boat, or a new hybrid house-boat under construction on the shore of East River in anticipation of the next hurricane flood is not entirely clear. The visitor is invited inside, under the siding canopy, to contemplate the present horizon of Socrates Sculpture Park and NYC, the past, and perhaps the forthcoming great floods.

Organized by the Architectural League of New York, Folly is a design-build residency at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens. It was created to explore large- scale architectural installations that blur the boundaries and help to link the worlds of art and architecture.