Temporary. Structures of Necessity

The exhibition highlights structures that form an essential yet often overlooked part of our urban infrastructure. This temporary layer keeps countless processes in the city running: from building and demolition to maintenance and guidance, all the way to protection and security. Labeled as temporary, such constructions blend into their surroundings and often remain below the threshold of perception. The exhibition makes this necessary background visible and brings it into focus.

The fascination with temporary utilitarian structures has accompanied the members of KOSMOS architects since their student days. For many years, they have collected examples of these ephemeral architectures – built for a limited moment, yet full of lightness, precision, and strength. A research project that takes temporariness seriously as an independent architectural category has emerged from this passion. They refer to these anonymous technical infrastructures as “tectures,” as the “constructed self” beyond “authorial” architecture.

What can we learn from temporary structures? Conventional building methods are often too slow and inflexible to respond adequately to changing challenges—social, economic, political, ecological, technological, and climatic. Temporary structures arise from specific needs. They are functional, quickly available, and designed for easy assembly, adaptation, and dismantling. This is precisely their quality: They respond immediately to change and reveal what is truly needed in a given situation. As snapshots of reality, they are direct reflections of societal demands—and a laboratory for an architecture that learns to deal with resources, time, and conditions in new ways.

Concept and design: KOSMOS architects