Ephemeral architecture is the art or technique of designing and building structures that are transient, that last only a short time. Ephemeral art has been a constant in the

history of architecture The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates. The beginnings of all these traditions is thought to be humans satisfying the very basic need of shelt ...

, although a distinction must be made between constructions conceived for temporary use and those that, despite being built with durability in mind, have a brief expiration due to various factors, especially the poor quality of the materials (wood, adobe,

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

, cardboard, textiles), in cultures that would not have sufficiently developed solid construction systems. Ephemeral architecture was usually used for celebrations and festivals of all kinds, as

scenography Scenography (inclusive of scenic design, lighting design, sound design, costume design) is a practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography is the combination of technological and material ...

theatrical scenery Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether the item was custom-made or ...

for a specific event, which was dismantled after the event. It has existed since

ancient art Ancient art refers to the many types of art produced by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with some form of writing, such as those of ancient China, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The art of pre-liter ...

—it is at the origin of forms such as the

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cro ...

, whose ephemeral model was fixed in permanent constructions during the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

—and it was very common in European courts during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

and especially in the Baroque. Despite its circumstantial character, the ephemeral has been a recurrent and relevant architecture. From Baroque scenographies to

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

installations, each ephemeral period has given shape to its idea of celebration and has materialized it with the technique available at the time. Today the ephemeral continues to fulfill these playful and experimental functions, but it also aspires to channel new ideas about public space and social participation, halfway between the city and

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

Classification

In the social context there are various ways of including ephemeral architecture: for specific events (traditional ephemeral architecture), as a way of life (nomadic architecture), as a requirement of a society that reveres change (obsolescent architecture), and as a necessity (emergency architecture).

Traditional ephemeral architecture

The architecture that is ephemeral because of its "eventuality".

Ancient period

File:Ardemans-parnaso.jpg, Ephemeral architecture project for the entry of Felipe V in Madrid (February 18, 1701), by Teodoro Ardemans. File:Lorenzo quiros-calle platerias.jpg, ''Embellishment of the Platerias Street on the occasion of the entry of Charles III in Madrid'', by Lorenzo Quirós, 1760. File:Pompe funebre for Katarzyna Opalińska.jpg, Funerary ceremony in honor of

Catherine Opalińska Countess Catherine Opalińska ( pl, Katarzyna Opalińska; 13 October 1680 – 19 March 1747), was by birth member of House of Opaliński, Queen consort of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth twice and Duchess consort of Lorraine through her marr ...

, mother-in-law of

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

, held in 1747 at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. There are few documents of constructions designed with an ephemeral duration, on the contrary, both

Egyptian architecture Spanning over three thousand years, ancient Egypt was not one stable civilization but in constant change and upheaval, commonly split into periods by historians. Likewise, ancient Egyptian architecture is not one style, but a set of styles diff ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

stand out for their monumentality and the long-lasting eagerness of their constructions, especially the religious ones. The ephemeral constructions were especially used for public ceremonies and celebrations of military victories, or for festivities related to kings and emperors. Thus, there is a valuable testimony of a pavilion erected by

Ptolemy II of Egypt ; egy, Userkanaenre Meryamun Clayton (2006) p. 208 , predecessor = Ptolemy I , successor = Ptolemy III , horus = ''ḥwnw-ḳni'Khunuqeni''The brave youth , nebty = ''wr-pḥtj'Urpekhti''Great of strength , gol ...

to celebrate a banquet, reported by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

Early modern period, Renaissance and Baroque

The splendor of ephemeral architecture was produced in the Early Modern Period, in the

and—especially— the Baroque, eras of consolidation of the

absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism (European history), Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute pow ...

, when European monarchs sought to elevate their figure above that of their subjects, resorting to all kinds of propagandistic and exalting acts of their power, in political and religious ceremonies or celebrations of a playful nature, which showed the magnificence of their government. One of the most frequent resources were the thriumphal arches, erected for any act such as military celebrations, royal weddings or visits of the monarch to various cities. There are several testimonies in this regard, such as the triumphal arch at the Porte Saint-Denis for the entrance of Enrique II in Paris in 1549, the arch at the Pont Nôtre-Dame for the entrance of Charles IX in Paris in 1571, the triumphal arch of Maximilian I designed by Dürer in 1513, the triumphal arch for the entrance of

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

in 1515, the arch for the entrance of Prince Philip (future Philip II of Spain) in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

in 1549, etc. During the Baroque, the ornamental—contrived and ornate character of the art of this time conveyed a transitory sense of life—related to the '' memento mori'', the ephemeral value of riches in the face of the inevitability of death, in parallel to the pictorial genre of the ''

vanitas A ''vanitas'' (Latin for 'vanity') is a symbolic work of art showing the temporality, transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-kn ...

''. This sentiment led to a vitalist appreciation of the fleetingness of the instant, to enjoy the light moments of relaxation that life offers, or the celebrations and solemn acts. Thus, births, weddings, deaths, religious ceremonies, royal coronations and other recreational or ceremonial events were dressed with pomp and artifice of a

character, where great assemblies were elaborated that agglutinated architecture and decorations to provide an eloquent magnificence to any celebration, which became a spectacle of almost catartic character, where the illusory element, the attenuation of the border between reality and fantasy took on special relevance. Baroque art sought the creation of an alternative reality through fiction and illusion, resorting to

foreshortening Linear or point-projection perspective (from la, perspicere 'to see through') is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, ...

and illusionist perspective, a tendency that had its maximum expression in festivities, the playful celebration, where buildings such as churches or palaces, or a neighborhood or an entire city, became theaters of life, in scenarios where reality and illusion were mixed, where the senses were subverted to deception and artifice. The Counter-Reformationist Church played a special role, seeking to show its superiority over the

Protestant Churches Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

with pomp and pageantry, through events such as solemn

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

, canonizations,

jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

processions A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

or papal investitures. But just as lavish were the celebrations of the monarchy and the aristocracy, with events such as coronations, royal weddings and births, funerals, ambassador visits, any event that allowed the monarch to display his power to the admiration of the people. Baroque festivities involved a conjugation of all the arts, from architecture and the plastic arts to poetry, music, dance, theater, pyrotechnics, floral arrangements, water games, etc. Architects such as Bernini or Pietro da Cortona, or

Alonso Cano Alonso Cano Almansa or Alonzo Cano (19 March 16013 September 1667) was a Spanish painter, architect, and sculptor born in Granada.Sebastián Herrera Barnuevo in Spain, contributed their talent to such events, designing structures, choreographys, lighting and other elements, which often served them as a testing ground for future more serious endeavors. The

baldachin A baldachin, or baldaquin (from it, baldacchino), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over hi ...

for the canonization of Saint Elizabeth of Portugal thus served Bernini for his future design of St. Peter's baldachin, and Carlo Rainaldi's '' quarantore'' (sacred theater of the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

) was a model of the church of Santa Maria in Campitelli.

Contemporary period

In the Contemporary Period the phenomenon of the universal exhibitions— trade fairs held in cities all over the world to showcase scientific, technological and cultural advances to the population, and which became true mass spectacles and great advertising showcases for companies or countries that promoted their products—is worth mentioning. These exhibitions were held in enclosures where each country or company built a pavilion to promote itself, which were buildings or structures conceived in an ephemeral way to last only as long as the exhibition lasted. However, many of these constructions were preserved due to their success or the originality of their design, becoming a testing ground and promotion of the work of many architects. These exhibitions saw the first experiments with new typologies and materials characteristic of

contemporary architecture Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. No single style is dominant. Contemporary architects work in several different styles, from postmodernism, high-tech architecture and new interpretations of traditional architec ...

, such as construction with concrete, iron and glass, or the important development of interior design, especially fostered by

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. The first universal exhibition took place in London in 1851, being famous for the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

designed by Joseph Paxton, a large glass palace with iron structure, which despite being preserved was destroyed by fire in 1937. From then until now there have been numerous exhibitions, many of which have revealed great architectural achievements, such as the Exposition Universelle of 1889, when the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "' ...

was built; the Barcelona International Exposition, which produced the German Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; the

Brussels World's Fair Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (french: Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles de 1958, nl, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling van 1958), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Bel ...

, which produced the

Atomium The Atomium ( , , ) is a landmark building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58). It is located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken (northern part of the City of Brussels), where the ex ...

, by

André Waterkeyn André Waterkeyn (23 August 1917 – 4 October 2005) was a Belgian engineer, born in Wimbledon, best known for creating the Atomium. Waterkeyn was the economic director of Fabrimetal (now Agoria), a federation of metallurgical companies when i ...

; the

Seattle World's Fair The Century 21 Exposition (also known as the Seattle World's Fair) was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States.Space Needle The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city, it has been designated a Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, it was built in the Seattle Center ...

; the International and Universal Exposition, with the US Pavilion in the form of a geodesic dome, by

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing mo ...

; that of Sevilla '92, which bequeathed a theme park ( Isla Mágica) and several office and technological development buildings ( Cartuja 93); or that of Lisbon 1998, which legacy was the

Oceanarium An oceanarium can be either a marine mammal park, such as Marineland of Canada, or a large-scale aquarium, such as the Lisbon Oceanarium, presenting an ocean habitat with marine animals, especially large ocean dwellers such as sharks. First ma ...

Finally, it is worth mentioning the boom since the mid-20th century in ice architecture, especially in the Nordic countries—as is logical given the special

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological ...

circumstances that require this type of construction—where various types of ice buildings have begun to proliferate, such as hotels, museums, palaces and other structures generally conceived for public use and for recreational or cultural purposes. These constructions are based on traditional structures such as the igloo, the typical dwelling of the Eskimoes, but have evolved by incorporating all the theoretical and technical advances of modern architecture. Among other buildings made of ice, the

Icehotel An ice hotel is a temporary hotel made up of snow and sculpted blocks of ice. Ice hotels, dependent on sub-freezing temperatures, are constructed from ice and snow and typically have to be rebuilt every year. Ice hotels exist in several countri ...

Jukkasjärvi Jukkasjärvi (; Sami: ''Čohkkiras'') is a locality situated in Kiruna Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 548 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated at 321 meters elevation. The name is of Northern Sami origin, where ''Čohkkirasjávri'' ...

—built in 1990 on a provisional basis and maintained thanks to the success of the initiative, being redecorated every year with the participation of various architects, artists and students of various disciplines—is worth mentioning. Except in the case of ice architecture, which hosts functions usually reserved for traditional architecture and needs to be preserved to survive, the construction methods used for this type of ephemeral architecture, as well as the

materials Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolog ...

, do not differ much from those used in traditional architecture. This and the fact that the societies in which it was developed were prone to venerate monumentality, and the success of some of the constructions of the universal exhibitions, meant that many of these buildings were finally preserved. Nowadays, the architecture that can best be compared to this type of event constructions are exhibitions (in museums, on the street, etc.) and cinematographic or theatrical

s. It is worth mentioning the relationship of ephemeral architecture with citizen cartography, and its relationship with the decision-making power of the user, who becomes the architect of his part of the space on some occasions. It can happen that specific parts of a building are movable, to configure a space in a momentary way in which everyone can adapt the conditions to the most suitable for himself.

Nomadic architecture

Portable

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes c ...

architecture that is ephemeral because of its "translationality". Architecture, in its origin, was born being ephemeral and to this day certain

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

continue with this lifestyle. There are theoretical projects that transfer this concept to the city, such as the '' New Babylon'', developed from 1948 by

Constant Nieuwenhuys Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys (21 July 1920 – 1 August 2005), better known as Constant, was a Dutch painter, sculptor, graphic artist, author and musician. Early period Constant was born in Amsterdam on 21 July 1920 as the first son of Pieter ...

. A

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...

on a planetary scale, which advocates a return to nomadic origins thanks to the improvement of the machine, which frees the human being from his tasks (food production, etc.), and in this way a new evolution of the human being appears, the '' homo ludens'' who, freed from his occupations, can devote himself to art and happiness. For this achievement the world must be conceived from the freedom of choices and therefore of movements. ''L'Architecture Mobile'' (1958) by Yona Friedman and the ''Plug-in-City'' (1964) by

Archigram Archigram was an avant-garde architectural group formed in the 1960s ⁠that was neofuturistic, anti-heroic and pro-consumerist, drawing inspiration from technology in order to create a new reality that was solely expressed through hypothetical ...

are also examples of the

megastructure A megastructure is a very large artificial object, although the limits of precisely how large vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building. Some sources define a megastructure as an enormous self-supporting a ...

s approach to this type of utopian cities. The cycle closes. If the human being becomes sedentary because he discovers the benefits of cultivation, after millennia machines free him from such a chore, so he can put his house back in his backpack and travel the world.

Obsolescent architecture

Architecture that is ephemeral because of its " temporariness". Architectural types that until now had always been conceived to remain, such as the house, are now thought to be dismembered and their pieces reused. It is the inheritance of the industrial society that allows us an architecture of prefabricated dwellings. As

Sigfried Giedion Sigfried Giedion (sometimes misspelled Siegfried Giedion; 14 April 1888, Prague – 10 April 1968, Zürich) was a Bohemian-born Swiss historian and critic of architecture. His ideas and books, '' Space, Time and Architecture'', and ''Mech ...

explained at the First Congress of the CIAM: Unlike nomadic architecture, the structure of the world maintains its sedentary nature, but the elements that we find within it are projected to change at a faster rate every day: the latest generation of cell phones, fashionable clothes, fast food, etc. These are terms that have settled in the collective unconscious and induce us to enhance the value of change and speed. It is positive, within this way of conceiving times of use, that a rising value is also ecology, since the reuse of these obsolete pieces is the antidote against landfills. There is a prevailing trivialization in many social aspects with the dominance of the ephemeral, the disposable. We are not only tolerant but enthusiastic about garbage-jobs, garbage-companies, garbage-stores, garbage-furniture, garbage-houses, garbage-families, garbage-programs and garbage-books. This strategy goes through the elimination of the qualities of things. In the words of José Luis Pardo:

Emergency architecture

Architecture that is ephemeral because of its "economy of resources". Based on immediate constructions, the fundamental premise is the rapid response required for its construction. That it will lose its use, be dismembered or change its place is of no interest. The important thing is to solve a specific need at a specific time, in the simplest way. It can be related to moments of natural catastrophes, as in the case of the Paper House by

Shigeru Ban Biography
, The Hyatt Foundation, retrieved 26 March 2014 is a Japanese architect, known for his i ...

(1995) to provide a temporary housing for several victims of the

Kobe earthquake The , or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and h ...

; or with social sectors with few resources who want to provide them with a better quality of life. The latter case is more related to self-construction as a liberation from the bonds of capitalism, the construction of a greater solidarity among men, a condition of life in harmony with nature, and the feeling of being architects of a new beginning. The Rural Studio in Alabama and the Ciudad abierta de Ritoque (Valparaíso) are examples of this field of architectural experimentation.

Principles

* ''Temporariness''. Life, nowadays, is unpredictable. "Everyone changes places when they want to. Life is an endless journey through a world that transforms so rapidly that each time seems different." Ephemeral architecture is meant to respond to a specific act and can be dismantled after it has responded to that act. It can always be returned to the origin, unlike permanent constructions, in which the site remains conditioned. * ''Flexibility''. The world changes constantly and at an ever-increasing speed. This type of architecture adapts quickly to the needs of the place. It can be constantly re-modeled, as needs change. The permeability of this architecture allows it to be assembled and disassembled by the users themselves. Nowadays any country or city is susceptible to encounter different emergency situations: situations derived from extreme meteorological phenomena, pandemics or moments in which political, military or civil disturbance factors intervene. In this sense, ephemeral architecture has an important task to solve to provide temporary shelters and shelters for victims of any kind, showing its most supportive character. * ''Innovation''. It is about creating an architecture with innovative solutions in terms of miniaturization, self-construction and new

material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

s. It has been reflected above all in emergency solutions either by wars or natural disasters. Conditions such as lightness, economy, speed and simplicity of assembly and disassembly, storage, sustainability, minimal, collective, transportable, reusable, prefabrication, and so on, require using the most innovative aspect of the architectural research. * ''Low cost''. Concept generalized in the 60's with the fast food chains. In this consumer society, "low cost" companies of services, communications, industrial, technological, automotive and even

airlines An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in whic ...

have appeared in all media. In the ephemeral architecture, low cost is one of the priority concepts that allows and motivates rapid operations to experiment, investigate and propose models and construction methods that are more advanced and visionary than those that traditional architecture allows us. * ''Economy of resources''. This type of architecture adapts economically to the needs of the place. It takes into account the existing, either by nearby materials, or by taking into account the environment. Non-permanent architecture should not be exempt from its surroundings. The structural design must be the most appropriate to optimize resources.{{cite web , last=Cirugeda , first=Santiago , title=Espacios públicos temporales , url=http://www.recetasurbanas.net/index1.php?idioma=ESP&REF=1&ID=0007 , location=Madrid , language=spanish * ''

Waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

''. There are many

economic problems Economic systems as a type of social system must confront and solve the three fundamental economic problems:Samuelson, P. Anthony., Samuelson, W. (1980). Economics. 11th ed. / New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 34 * What kinds and quantities of goods sh ...

and social problems that make us change the way of doing things. Nowadays, many believe that architecture should optimize resources and be low cost. This can be achieved by using recycled and recyclable materials, with reversible constructions. Once the building is no longer needed the materials can be returned to the company or reused for another construction, avoiding

debris Debris (, ) is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, as in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier, etc. Depending on context, ''debris'' can refer to ...

. * '' Do it yourself''. Reversible

self-build Self-build is the creation of an individual home for oneself through a variety of methods. The self-builder's input into this process varies from doing the actual construction to contracting the work to an architect or building package company. ...

ings where users can decide what divisions and connections they want to make according to the use they need. It's a

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

movement transferable to any area of daily life. Although it is also associated with anti-capitalist movements, by rejecting the idea of always buying from others things that one can create or manufacture. From the 1950s, the ability of each person to build his own house is made available to society, supported by the emergence of new materials such as

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

s, which are characterized by their lightness and ease of transport, as well as making it possible to simplify the joining of different parts. Each person is the owner of their own environment, their own habitat. It is possible for the individual to become a contemporary

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

. Moreover, the user is the one who decides whether it works and must remain or whether it has finished its task.

Main authors

Peter_Cook_from_Archigram,_Architects_Association

AntFarm

At the end of the 60s in the United States, AntFarm, a collective of

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s, philosophers,

filmmakers Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

and artists arose that produced numerous performances,

audiovisual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service pr ...

s, collections of slides such as the enviro-images, television programs clandestine Top Value Television, inflatable architecture manuals like the Inflatocookbook, manifestos like the Nomadic Cowboy, or bound books like Reality, all with the aim of proposing new environments for a new way of life. A proposal with different mobile, inflatable, mechanical and technological elements that produce the necessary effects to make any support habitable with a vital, alternative, nomadic, utopian and experimental architecture, as he believes that "today's ambiguous society forces static patterns of life."

Archigram

Founded in 1962 by

Warren Chalk Warren Chalk (1927–1988) was an English architect. He was a member of Archigram. Amongst the group he was known as "the catalyst of ideas". Early life and education Chalk, (John) Warren (1927–1987), architect, was born on 7 July 1927 at 32 ...

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

Dennis Crompton Dennis Crompton (born in 1935) is an English architect, lecturer and writer on architectural subjects. He was a member of Archigram Archigram was an avant-garde architectural group formed in the 1960s ⁠that was neofuturistic, anti-heroi ...

, David Greene, Rom Herrom and Michael Webb,

made a series of technological, futuristic and utopian proposals that bet on an ephemeral architecture destined to be consumed like any other product of society.

Future Systems

Based in England and founded by

Jan Kaplický Jan Kaplický (; ; 18 April 1937 – 14 January 2009) was a Neofuturistic Czech architect who spent a significant part of his life in the United Kingdom. He was the leading architect behind the innovative design office, Future Systems. He was be ...

and Amanda Levete,

Future Systems Future Systems was a London-based architectural and design practice, formerly headed by Directors Jan Kaplický and Amanda Levete. Future Systems was founded by Kaplický and David Nixon after working with Denys Lasdun, Norman Foster, Renzo ...

propose three technological, mobile, transformable, autonomous, sustainable, capsule, prefabricated, lightweight houses, using solar energy and

wind energy Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically, w ...

. On the one hand, they could be understood as a revision and updating of the fundamental aspects raised from

to the generation of the masters of the 60s with whom Kaplicky and Levete were trained, and on the other hand, as visionaries of the world to come from the 21st century.

Shigeru Ban

Shigeru Ban Biography
, The Hyatt Foundation, retrieved 26 March 2014 is a Japanese architect, known for his i ...

manages to develop an emergency architecture from the

social responsibility Social responsibility is an ethical framework in which an individual is obligated to work and cooperate with other individuals and organizations for the benefit of the community that will inherit the world that individual leaves behind. Social ...

of the architect through experimentation and new (old) materials, the low cost, the temporal dimension, the low tech, the existing, the structural design, the

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

, the struggle with regulations, the commitment, participation, flexibility and the rejection of media architecture. Shigeru's houses are designed to be constantly remodeled, as are the needs. They are easy to build, the users themselves can do it.

Santiago Cirugeda

Santiago Cirugeda is one of the most innovative architects of the Spanish urban scene. His proposals on issues of occupation and resistance have given him international recognition in the field of guerrilla architecture. With his project Recetas Urbanas, he provides legal advice. He makes projects that reflect the idea of ephemeral architecture, these take into account the needs of the individual, the area where it is located and the circumstances of the moment. He defines an economic project, which adapts to demand and can even be self-built. He believes in non-permanent architecture, so many of his projects can be dismantled once it loses the utility for which it was created. In the documentary Spanish Dream, Cirugeda explains his way of understanding architecture:

I have no interest in making architecture that lasts 300 years, but to make an architecture that serves temporary states because there are situations in the city that are developed by people who occasionally, for years, will work there or live there.

Remarkable works

''Endless House''. Frederick John Kiesler, 1924

For more than 30 years, the Viennese architect F. J. Kiessler, researched, speculated and experimented in an indeterminate, transformable, self-built, self-supporting, versatile, infinite, mutable and

ergonomic Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

architecture. The Endless House project, where the author explored the architectural possibilities of spaces in infinite development, capable of adapting to the changing conditions of the environment, never constant, always evolving, with a biomorphic configuration. The architecture "infinite as the human being, without beginning or end".

''Detachable house for beach''. GATCPAC, 1932

A type of wooden, minimal, self-built, demountable house for the vacation period in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

. The whole house must be manageable: volume, weight, surface and reduced cost. The house can be expandable and is supplied with the indispensable furniture. It is intended to live in harmony with the landscape and nature without damaging the natural environment.

''Maisons a Portiques''.
Charlotte Perriand Charlotte Perriand (24 October 1903 – 27 October 1999) was a French architect and designer. Her work aimed to create functional living spaces in the belief that better design helps in creating a better society. In her article "L'Art de Vivre" f ...
and Le Corbusier, 1945

Together with

Jean Prouvé Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 – 23 March 1984) was a French metal worker, self-taught architect and designer. Le Corbusier designated Prouvé a constructeur, blending architecture and engineering. Prouvé's main achievement was transferring m ...

, they designed and produced 400 removable pavilions as temporary housing for casualties after the liberation of France during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

known as ''Maisons a Portiques''. No element had to exceed 100 kilograms or measure more than 4 meters to meet the idea of quick and simple assembly, without technical aids, which could be transported in one go on a truck. The joints and connections had to be free of tension, even in the case of technical deformation; the facades had to be made up of interchangeable elements.

''Village in cardboard''. Guy Rottier, 1960

He proposes new and unprecedented architectures, corresponding to another way of living, combined with the new materials that were beginning to invade the construction market. His proposals deal with the architecture of camouflage, evolutionary, solar, ephemeral, vacation, recovery, etc. In his Village in Cardboard he proposes a vacation village in cardboard cells without doors or windows. All the space is public and does not offer "comfort". The roofs will be generated by the users with the aim that the vacationers are active, relate and communicate with others. The houses would be burned down at the end of the vacation.

''Plug in city''. Archigram, 1962–1966

that had no buildings, just a large frame into which housing or service capsules could be fitted in the form of cells or standardized components. Each element had a durability; the base tubular structure 40 years, in the capsules it varies according to its program, from 6 months for a commercial space, to 5–8 years for bedrooms and living rooms. At the top an inflatable balloon is activated in bad weather.

''Living Pod''. David Greene, Archigram, 1966

It is a habitat-capsule that can be inserted inside an urban structure called ''plug-in'', or it can be transported and perched on any natural landscape. A hybrid architecture, hermetic, small, comfortable and technological, constituted by the space itself and by the machines connected to it: "The house is an apparatus to be transported with itself, the city is a machine to which you connect." Although comparable to a capsule, the Living Pod does not have autonomy, that is why in 1969 he proposed the Logplug-Rockplug. Real simulations of logs and rocks that serve to hide service points for semi-autonomous living containers. They go unnoticed, perfectly adapted to the landscape and bring to any environment a high degree of technological support without detracting from the natural beauty.

''Peanut''.
Future Systems Future Systems was a London-based architectural and design practice, formerly headed by Directors Jan Kaplický and Amanda Levete. Future Systems was founded by Kaplický and David Nixon after working with Denys Lasdun, Norman Foster, Renzo ...
, 1984

Rural shelter that mounts on a standard articulated hydraulic boom. The unit is for two people, can move on air, land and water according to purpose, activity or time. It is a kinetic response to life, allowing the inhabitants to control the appearance or orientation of the capsule according to mood, activity and time, leaving behind the fixed viewpoint of static dwellings.

''Pao 1 and 2 of the nomadic girls of Tokyo''. Toyo Ito, 1989

A project from the mid-1980s, consisting of a concept of a house scattered all over the city, where life goes by while using the fragments of the city space as a collage. For it, the living room is the café-bar and the theater, the dining room is the restaurant, the closet is the boutique, and the garden is the sports club.

''Casa Básica''. Martín Ruiz de Azúa, 1999

Proposal that aims to demonstrate that the habitat can be understood in a more essential and reasonable way, keeping a more direct relationship with the environment. An almost immaterial volume that swells from the heat of our own body or the sun, so versatile that it protects from cold and heat, so light that it floats.

''Pink Project''. Graph Architects, 2008

Produced by the

Make It Right Foundation The Make It Right Foundation is a non-profit foundation founded by American actor Brad Pitt in 2007. The foundation was established to aid in the environmentally friendly rebuilding of houses in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Katri ...

. It was conceived as an informative-commemorative tool to raise awareness and activate individual participation to alleviate the needs of those affected by Hurricane Katrina in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. Thousands of people were left unprotected and homeless, and the objective was to raise funds for the reconstruction of the devastated homes. Given the strong visual and metaphorical potential of installing a village of pink "houses" in the devastated area, Pink was the virtual city of hope, a hybrid of art, architecture, film, media and fundraising strategies.

''Paper Log House''. Shigeru Ban, 1955

For the victims of the

. These emergency housing units have been built on two more occasions, in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

in 2000 and India in 2001. Self-built with maximum economy of means, they use sand-filled soft drink boxes as foundations, and walls constructed of cardboard tubes with insulating capacity and rain-resistant once protected with a kerosene primer. The tarpaulin roof, attached to a cardboard truss, can be removed and detached in summer to allow ventilation. The material cost of a 52 m² unit is less than $2,000, and the assembly is designed to be carried out by the victims and volunteers themselves. Emergency housing took between 6 and 10 hours to build.

References

Architecture Art Ephemera Self-sustainability Avant-garde art