“Mobile architecture, ‘can be defined not merely in terms of movable structures, but rather as a way of intelligently inhabiting a specific environment at a specfic time and place in a way that better to increasingly frequent social shifts.” Archigram

The first documentation of the mobile typology was that of Noah’s ark – a portable and relocatable structure that served the purpose of self-sufficient housing.  Early nomadic cultures moved from place to place out of necessity  – needing temporary structures that were lightweight, flexible and [low-tech] transportable.  Examples are the tipi, yurt, “blacktent,” and the sheepherder tent/coat.

Mobility not of necessity first came to fruition in medieval Italy public performance art – staged in demountable theatres, “mansiones.”  The idea of temporary architecture was carried into modernity by exhibitions and expositions.  Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace of 1851 was designed to be deconstructed and repurposed for a new building type after an exposition.  The idea of economy was taken further by Buckminster Fuller’s focus on mass-production, lightness of materials, and minimal weight.

“Madam, do you know what your house weighs?”

Le Corbusier believed that with the boom of housing it was, “impossible to wait on the slow collaborations of the successive efforts of excavation, carpenter, joiner, tiler, plumber… Houses must go up all of a piece, made by machine tools in a factory, assembled as Ford assembles cars, on moving conveyor belts.”

America’s first mass-produced mobile dwelling was the Conestoga wagon – utilized by the pioneer family moving west.  With the boom of the automobile industry, the Airstream trailer soon followed.  With the advent of trucking, the concept of “flat-pack” delivery was developed – the Acorn House was the first house designed specifically for truck transportation.  The kit of parts was a series of factory-made pieces that assembled like a puzzle.

“The trailer has no attachment to place.” J.B. Jackson

The siteless nature of temporary architecture have placed it on the fringes of the design community.  The battle of how to bring importance to something designed for impermanence.  The trailer can be viewed as a piece of architecture disconnected from site, but its ability to move and not disrupt natural flows make it ideal candidate for today’s environmental concerns about about building construction and demolition.

“…portable and mobile architecture is not merely product design or a continued modification of the Conestoga or the Airstream.  Rather it is a recognition of the fluidity of circumstances – the mobility of demographics and information – and an increased capacity for architecture to respond to fluidity, whether through low-tech, ad hoc vernaculars or through high-kinetics and embedded computation.”