Temporary Tecture: Structures of Necessity reframes the scaffolding, hoardings, and makeshift shelters of the contemporary city as a distinct architectural category — one that encodes lessons in adaptability, resource use, and conceptual radicalism that permanent architecture rarely achieves.
About This Book
Scaffolding, construction barriers, temporary wayfinding structures — the urban environment is saturated with infrastructures we are trained not to see. Temporary Tecture makes the case that this collective blind spot is costing architects something real. Introducing the term “contemporary vernacular architecture,” the book argues that these structures of necessity constitute a coherent architectural language: one defined by circularity, local material logic, and an unselfconscious radicalism that designed buildings rarely match. For practitioners working with questions of adaptive reuse, circular economy, and urban temporality, this is a provocation grounded in close observation of the built environment.
Key Features
- 350 pages of illustrated documentation and critical analysis of temporary urban infrastructures
- Contributions by Charlotte Maltere-Barthes, Jan De Vylder, and Philip Ursprung
- Published by Kosmos Architects
What You’ll Discover
- The argument for “contemporary vernacular architecture” as a legitimate and distinct category within architectural discourse
- How temporary infrastructures shape the cityscape as an overarching structural presence, not merely a background condition
- The principles of adaptability, circular economy, and use of local resources encoded in structures typically dismissed as functional stopgaps
- Why these omnipresent urban elements have remained marginal in both professional discourse and public perception — and what that absence reveals
About the Author
[Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 350
- Dimensions: 18.5 x 11.5 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783035628654
- Publisher: Kosmos Architects
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and urban designers interested in circular economy principles, academics working in vernacular and temporary architecture, and students seeking a critical counterpoint to conventional architectural theory.