Experimental architecture.

The ephemeral as a methodology in the post-capitalist city

In comparison to other disciplines, architectural experimentation has been undermined by the very essence of
“building”. Historically, it has required three means inherent to the architectural process and extremely valuable in the
Western framework of a capitalist, productivist and extractivist system: physical, economical and energy resources. The
conventional exercise of our profession entails - or has entailed, perhaps more pertinently - the physical occupation of
spaces invariably for a long period of time and, almost consequently, the investment of large amounts of money. For
this reason, experimentation has been relegated, to a large extent, until the end of the 20th century and the beginning
of the 2000s to three privileged scenarios: the theoretical-speculative of the academy and the International Congresses;
the great institutional and monumental interventions shown in Universal Exhibitions and classical Architecture
Biennials; and to private initiatives, mostly residential projects.

The gap between the theoretical proposals of the last century and their application to the actual built environment
has expanded greatly over time. In addition, our urban spaces were shaped with experiments and theories developed
from what would be for Donna Haraway a “situated knowledge”, that is, from a partial, privileged vision of reality and
from the prevailing white, patriarchal and anthropocentric order. Therefore, the cities we live in today still reflect the
legacy of Modern planning principles, and it has taken years of frustration and failure to understand that, at the moment
of their complete implementation, they were, in most cases, mostly obsolete. This became evident during the second
decade of the 21st century. First with the global crisis of Western societies that began in 2008, highlighting the
limitations of capitalism as a system. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragilities of our urban
realms.

According to the theory of “The Long Waves in Economic Life” (1979) by N. Kondratiev, if we place the crash
in one of its waves of growth-contraction, the event only marked the beginning of decades of consecutive crises after
several years of exponential economic growth. Architects Isabel Gutiérrez Sánchez and Candela Morado speak of
“chronic crisis” (2021) to refer to the contemporary condition, a crisis in which mobilization is continuous and intense.
Instability is patent and thus, society is continuously undergoing change, adapting to new realities that are increasingly
more complex and diverse.

This new situation, coupled with the development of the network society, has brought new tools such as Big
Data to agilely and more precisely gather the information required in any technical or scientific experiment.
Transforming our cities into Smart Cities is a common goal on the agendas of Euro-American institutions, with the
approval of large energy, banking and industrial corporations. However, in the article “The Stupefying Smart City”
(2012), R. Sennett poses the questions of whether these tools are substituting the judgment of the urbanite and what this
technology can take away from people’s capacity to reason, feel and make sense of complexity.

While efforts persist to master the tools and harness the knowledge they offer, a more empirical approach has
positioned itself as an option that addresses to the needs of post-capitalist cities. In this contemporary context of
instability, complexity and diversity, the ephemeral has become a compelling methodology for experimentation. In the
era of the internet, social networks, instant messaging and online platforms, immediacy has become a defining condition.
Ephemeral architecture challenges traditional architectural practices precisely because it rejects conventional means of
production: neither time, nor money, nor energy. These temporary interventions (understood as constructions with a
predetermined date for dismantling) provide short-term responses to contemporary urban issues, testing citizen
interactions with them. Consequently, they yield empirical knowledge that will shape future urban design.
 Since 2008, the prevalence of ephemeral architectures in urban contexts has grown through a series of events.
New Architecture and Design International Biennials have emerged worldwide, opening to more experimental
approaches and new voices in the architectural field, such as the Tallinn Architecture Biennale (2010), the Istanbul
Design Biennial ÍKSV (2012), the Chicago Architecture Biennial (2014), or the Seoul Architecture Biennial (2019). On
a smaller scale, architecture and urban design festivals have proliferated in various cities globally. This trend is
particularly noticeable in Spain. Streets of both smaller cities –such as Tortosa (2014), Logroño (2015) or Palma (2016)-
and larger ones like Valencia (2021), Granada (2022) or Barcelona (2022) have become stages for diverse installations
each year. Additionally, there has been an increase in public engagement initiatives responding to social demands and
needs in an inclusive and democratic context. These activities, conducted as workshops and actions in public spaces,
have, in some cases, resulted in the construction of devices for testing and experimenting on a 1:1 scale. Finally, tactical
urbanism has become the paradigm for the transformation of contemporary cities. Through action-oriented
interventions, they introduce concepts and raise awareness on the challenges in current urban spaces. Completing the
experimentation process, these interventions prompt questions through citizen participation, produce a prototype for
medium-term testing by all citizens, and eventually conclude with the realization of the ultimate project.

Figure 1. From left to right. Microbial Fruits of Istanbul Pavilion by Orkan Telhan + elii (IKSV, 2021), Permanently Temporary Pavilion by KOSMOS
architecture (MODEL Barcelona Architectures Festival, 2023), Cycle to school by Izaskun Chinchilla Architects (UCL Public Engagement Fellowship,
2014-2015), Superblock St. Antoni by LEKU studio (Barcelona, 2020).

The article deepens in the study of a case study for each of the recent urban events that are shaping the cities of
tomorrow through ephemeral architecture. In the context of the 5th edition of the Istanbul Design Biennial, Microbial
Fruits of Istanbul Pavilion by Orkan Telhan + elii explores the right of non-human species to co-live in the post-capitalist
city. Permanently Temporary by KOSMOS + PARABASE was the winning proposal for the Model Barcelona
Architectures Festival 2023 that was held in Barcelona. It reflected on circularity of materials and construction waste in
a pavilion built out of borrowed, unused materials that were found on multiple storages and construction/demolition
sites on the municipality of Barcelona and transported to the city centre. Izaskun Chinchilla architects are specialized in
the development of citizen participation initiatives and architectures from a gender perspective. Among them, Cycle to
school was the result of a collaboration with the Public Engagement Fellowship at The Bartlett School of Architecture
(UCL) to encourage children to go cycling to school. Finally, the Superblock at St. Antoni in Barcelona by LEKU studio
is a pioneer example of how tactical urbanism can define a city from the ephemeral to the execution of the “New Public
Space Model of Green Corridors” by Cierto studio in Barcelona.

The work concentrates on examining and comparing them with the purpose of highlighting how ephemeral
architecture has become a powerful experimentation tool to deal with contemporary urban challenges. This exploration
is developed using analytical and graphic tools, with illustrations providing support to clarify the ideas expressed in the
text. From here, the results reveal the possibilities that these temporary architectures presented for the contemporary
city, shedding some light on the specific methodology required for this type of interventions, and how the conclusions
drawn from each of the experiences have become relevant guidelines for the future development of the public spaces in
which they acted.