Temporary Tecture: Structures of Necessity, by KOSMOS Architects (Birkhäuser 2025), is a study of scaffolding, barriers, and other temporary architecture. With contributions by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Jan De Vylder and Philip Ursprung.
Temporary structures, such as scaffolding, barriers, and building sites, ensure the functioning of multiple processes, from construction and deconstruction to maintenance, guidance, and protection. Temporary Tecture presents a new perspective on this type of contemporary vernacular architecture—often overlooked in both public and professional discourse, despite its omnipresence. This new approach reveals that these “structures of necessity” provide an architectural language from which architects can learn in terms of adaptability, use of local resources, circular economy, and conceptual radicalism. Ultimately, it raises the question: How permanent should architectural solutions be in a continuously changing world?
– KOSMOS Architects, Temporary Tecture: Structures of Necessity (Birkhäuser, 2025), book description from the publisher’s website
The text is in English. The book is profusely illustrated with colour photographs of global temporary structures.
