March 3-6, 2011: Montreal, Canada

“Architecture on the Move: Towards a Theory of Replacing”

Paper presentation by Jennifer Johung

Without fully celebrating our nomadic release from territorial borders or longing nostalgically for a return to tightly localized communities, what does it mean, now in light of our multiple movements and temporary situations, to draw a spatial boundary? Who gets to choose to be spatially situated, for however long, and who has that situation chosen for them? How might we be in one place, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, where we could we find ourselves lingering with others? And how does this one place become a home? If to be in one place is to be still, perhaps to belong and to find home however momentarily or accidentally, then how can we situate ourselves while also on the move, both towards and away from each other?

This paper examines contemporary modular and mobile architectural constructions that attend to the movements of their inhabitants across the globe. Andrea Zittel constructs compact living units that can fold in and out like sides of a box for spatial variation and transportation. Lot-ek reforms a shipping container into a Mobile Dwelling Unit, but also imagines it capable of docking in and out of pre-established harbors located around the world. As bodies come together and apart, across a series of sites and over a course of time, so too do the component parts of these kinds of nomadic habitations. Easy to transport and quick to assemble, modular structures must, however, address both chosen and forced dislocation, responding not only to those who are continuously on the move, but also to those who are seeking temporary refuge. With this in mind, the paper turns to Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s modular paper tube architecture that provides immediate emergency relief to victims of natural disasters and political upheaval.