A footbridge crosses a pond to a white geometric pavilion surrounded by greenery, with people walking and sitting nearby.
The “studded” surface resulting from the folds, a specific effect pioneered by the firm to animate the surface based on sun orientation and incidence angle, supported by a 40-foot-diameter concrete island, which is embedded with LED uplights.

May 20, 2026

Words: Annie Block

Photography: Steve Kroodsma/Kroo Photography

A Biomorphic Pavilion Takes Root In Charlotte, North Carolina

Marc Fornes is a prominent name working in and blurring the lines between art and architecture, nature and technology, the functional and the fantastical. The dozens of projects his studio, TheVeryMany, has completed over the last 20 years range in scale from a Paris apartment’s Corian stair balustrade, robotically fabricated to resemble a lotus pod, to a 300-foot-wide parking-garage mural in Charlotte, North Carolina, composed of 6,000 metal components. Fornes and team have returned to the Tar Heel State with L’île Folie, a large-scale pavilion in Downtown Cary Park. They earned the commission by winning the design competition, which called for a public art sculpture on the lawn, and also proposing to resite it. “That’s something we do,” the Brooklyn-based, French architect says, “take a risk so the end result will have more impact.” Impact indeed. The tentacled 26-foot-tall aluminum form appears like sea anemone-jellyfish mash-up rising from an island, or île in French, that Fornes built in the park’s lake. As for the folie in the title, “When something’s new, it can lack soul,” Fornes adds, referring to the 2-year-old, 7-acre park. “So we looked into traditional components of historical parks.” A folly may be traditional, but L’île Folie’s parametric design, digital fabrication, and overall otherworldliness are très moderne.

  • White geometric, spiky sculpture with circular cutouts viewed from above, set against a beige, circular concrete surface and a teal background.
    Marc Fornes/TheVeryMany’s latest permanent project in North Carolina is L’île Folie, an 850-square-foot pavilion in Downtown Cary Park used for weddings, performances, or reflection.
  • People walk under a large outdoor pavilion with tall, perforated white columns and arches casting patterned shadows on the ground. Trees and water are visible in the background.
    The structure’s powder-coated panels of ultra-thin folded aluminum, digitally fabricated and precisely riveted into place, with no underlying frame.
  • A footbridge crosses a pond to a white geometric pavilion surrounded by greenery, with people walking and sitting nearby.
    The “studded” surface resulting from the folds, a specific effect pioneered by the firm to animate the surface based on sun orientation and incidence angle, supported by a 40-foot-diameter concrete island, which is embedded with LED uplights.
  • White geometric canopy with perforated patterns viewed from below against a blue sky, with tree branches visible on the right side.
    Laser-cut perforations creating daytime shadow play.

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