archive.ssv.asia

HERETO

8 min read

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Architecture of Ephemeral and Temporary Structures

1. Introduction: The Value of the Fleeting

For centuries, the primary ambition of architecture has been to defeat time. From the Pyramids of Giza to the great Gothic cathedrals, the goal has been to create monuments of enduring permanence, structures that would stand for generations as a testament to their culture. But there is another, equally vital, and fascinating lineage of architecture that embraces, rather than defies, the passage of time. This is the world of ephemeral and temporary architecture—structures designed from their inception for a limited lifespan, from a few hours to a few years.

This architecture of the temporary encompasses a vast and diverse range of structures, from rapidly deployable disaster relief shelters and vibrant festival pavilions to experimental art installations and grand exhibition halls. While their forms and functions vary wildly, they are united by a common set of principles: speed, efficiency, resourcefulness, and a focus on the immediate human experience. Far from being a lesser, disposable form of building, ephemeral architecture is one of the profession’s most important laboratories. It is a crucible for structural innovation, material experimentation, and social engagement, challenging our deep-seated notions of permanence and teaching us invaluable lessons about how to build lightly and intelligently on the earth.

2. The Drivers and Purposes of Temporary Design

The decision to build temporarily is driven by a range of human needs, from the most urgent to the most celebratory.

  • Necessity and Rapid Response:

    • Disaster Relief: This is the most critical application of temporary architecture. In the chaotic aftermath of an earthquake, hurricane, or flood, or during a refugee crisis, the immediate need for safe, dignified shelter is paramount. Temporary structures must be lightweight, transportable, and able to be erected with minimal tools and labor, providing a crucial bridge between the moment of crisis and the long-term process of rebuilding.

    • Emergency and Utility: This category includes temporary medical facilities, military encampments, construction site offices, and seasonal shelters—functional structures needed for a specific purpose and a finite duration.

  • Celebration and Spectacle:

    • World’s Fairs and Expos: Since the 19th century, international expositions have been a primary showcase for architectural innovation, almost all of it temporary. These events provide a platform for architects to present audacious, forward-looking designs and experiment with new technologies, free from the constraints of a permanent commission. Iconic structures from the Eiffel Tower (originally intended to be temporary) to countless futuristic pavilions have debuted at these fairs.

    • Festivals, Olympics, and Events: The global calendar of music festivals, cultural biennials, and major sporting events like the Olympics creates a huge demand for temporary architecture. Stages, pavilions, pop-up venues, and grandstands are all designed to create a powerful sense of occasion and are then removed, leaving the site to return to its original state.

  • Art, Experimentation, and Provocation:

    • The Architectural Pavilion: This has become a unique and highly influential building typology. Commissions like the annual Serpentine Pavilion in London invite a world-renowned architect to design a temporary structure with few functional constraints. This freedom allows the architect to create a work of “pure” architecture—an experimental exploration of form, material, and spatial experience that serves as a built manifesto of their ideas.

    • Installations and “Happenings”: Temporary installations allow architects and artists to create provocative, site-specific works that engage the public in new ways, often highlighting social or environmental issues.

3. Core Characteristics of Ephemeral Design

Designing for a short lifespan cultivates a unique set of architectural priorities.

  • Speed of Deployment: The ability to be transported and erected quickly is often the primary design driver. This leads to an emphasis on prefabrication, modular systems, and simple, intuitive connections.

  • Lightness and Demountability: Temporary structures are made from lightweight materials to facilitate easy transport and construction. Crucially, they are designed for disassembly, not demolition. Connections are typically mechanical (bolts, pins, straps) rather than permanent and destructive (welds, adhesives, cast-in-place concrete), allowing the structure to be taken apart and either reused or recycled.

  • Economy of Means: Temporary design often involves a radical efficiency, using the absolute minimum amount of material and energy to achieve the maximum effect. This leads to highly optimized and resourceful structural solutions.

  • Focus on Experience over Object: Because the building itself will not last, the emphasis shifts from its material permanence to the quality of the immediate, sensory, and social experience it creates. The design prioritizes the play of light and shadow, the unique spatial quality, the way it frames views, and the social interactions it fosters.

4. Innovations in Materials and Systems

The constraints of temporary design have spurred incredible innovation in materials and construction techniques.

  • Unconventional and Recycled Materials:

    • Cardboard and Paper Tubes: Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban is the world’s foremost pioneer in using humble, recyclable paper products as a structural material. He has demonstrated that when properly detailed, paper tubes are surprisingly strong, lightweight, and water-resistant. His work has elevated this everyday material into a viable and dignified solution for both disaster relief and striking cultural buildings. His Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, built as a temporary replacement for the earthquake-damaged cathedral, is a testament to this approach.

    • Shipping Containers (“Cargotecture”): The global abundance of used ISO shipping containers has made them a popular building block for temporary (and sometimes permanent) structures. Their inherent structural integrity, modular dimensions, and transportability make them an ideal ready-made module for pop-up shops, housing, and emergency shelters.

    • Ice and Snow: The annual construction of ice hotels in arctic regions represents an extreme form of ephemeral design, where the architecture’s existence is entirely dependent on the seasonal climate.

  • Advanced Structural Systems:

    • Tensile and Fabric Structures: Using high-tech fabrics like PTFE or ETFE stretched over lightweight frames or supported by air pressure (pneumatics), architects can create enormous, column-free, and visually stunning spaces with a fraction of the material required for a conventional building.

    • Scaffolding: Industrial scaffolding systems, with their modularity and robust connections, have been cleverly co-opted by architects to create complex and expressive temporary pavilions and viewing platforms.

5. Case Studies: The Spectrum of the Ephemeral

  • Shigeru Ban’s Disaster Relief Shelters: Following the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan, Shigeru Ban designed simple, elegant emergency shelters using paper tube frames and canvas walls, built on a foundation of donated beer crates filled with sandbags. He later adapted these systems for refugee crises in Rwanda and elsewhere. His work is a powerful demonstration of how sophisticated design thinking can be applied to the most basic materials to provide not just shelter, but also dignity and a sense of community in times of crisis.

  • The Burning Man Temples, Nevada, USA: Each year, a temporary city for over 70,000 people is erected in the Black Rock Desert for the Burning Man festival. At the heart of this city is a series of monumental art installations, culminating in the Temple. The Temple is a large, non-denominational spiritual space, often built from incredibly intricate, laser-cut timber structures. It serves as a place for remembrance and reflection throughout the week. At the end of the festival, in a powerful and cathartic ritual, it is ceremonially burned to the ground, representing the ultimate commitment to ephemerality and the principle of “leaving no trace.”

6. Conclusion: The Lasting Value of the Fleeting

The architecture of the temporary, by its very nature, forces a focus on what is essential: resourcefulness, efficiency, adaptability, and the immediate quality of human experience. It serves as a vital testing ground for the architectural profession, a place where new materials, radical structures, and novel spatial ideas can be tested in the real world at a 1:1 scale, without the immense risk and cost of a permanent building.

In an era defined by the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity, and an increasing number of displaced populations, the lessons of ephemeral architecture have never been more critical. The imperative to build lightly, to use less, to design for disassembly and reuse, and to prioritize human experience over monumental permanence offers a powerful and necessary counter-narrative to the way we have built for the last century. Sometimes, the most fleeting of structures can be the ones that leave the most lasting and important ideas.

References (APA 7th)

  • Kronenburg, R. (2007). Flexible: Architecture that Responds to Change. Laurence King Publishing.

  • Slavid, R. (2006). Micro: Very Small Buildings. Laurence King Publishing.

  • Ban, S. (2001). Shigeru Ban. Princeton Architectural Press.

  • Bergdoll, B. (Ed.). (2011). Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream. The Museum of Modern Art.

Graph View