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Temporary
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ANNE O'CALLAGHAN
I am interested in the etymology, origin and meaning of words. I can get lost in an old fashion paper dictionary, and the Online Etymology Dictionary can be a serious work disrupter. The whole question of temporary architecture raises many, many questions: who decides what is temporary? Is it a political decision, driven by commerce, the politics of capitalism, or by fashion?
Online Etymology Dictionary
temporal (adj.) late 14c., ‘worldly, secular’; also ‘terrestrial, earthly; temporary, lasting only for a time’, from Old French temporal ‘earthly’, and directly from Latin temporalis ‘of time, denoting time; but for a time, temporary’, from tempus (genitive temporis) ‘time, season, moment, proper time or season’, from Proto-Italic *tempos- ‘stretch, measure’, which according to de Vaan is from PIE *temp-os ‘stretched’, from root *ten- ‘to stretch’, the notion being ‘stretch of time’. Related: Temporally.
Temporary: Are refugees camps temporary architecture? This camp could be any camp.
One of the oldest camps is Cooper’s Camp in West Bengal, India, opened after partition in 1947. Made up of mostly Hindus living in mainly Muslim East Bengal who fled across the border. After 70 years Cooper’s Camp is still home to some 7,000 people. From Kenya to Palestine to Turkey.
The Palestinian camps/temporary homes began to appear in 1940: temporary shelters, temporary architecture. Not all look like tent cities, some are more like shanty towns.
Politically, camps are always temporary, even if they are 70 years old.
temporary (adj.) ‘lasting only for a time’, 1540s, from Latin temporarius ‘of seasonal character, lasting a short time’, from tempus (genitive temporis) ‘time, season’ (see temporal, late 14c., which was the earlier word for ‘lasting but for a time’).
The noun meaning ‘person employed only for a time’ is recorded from 1848. Related: Temporarily; temporariness.
disposable: ‘that may be done without, makeshift: ‘the nature of a temporary expedient.
short-lived: ’having a brief existence’. provisional: ’as a temporary arrangement, provided for present need or occasion’
Though we have seen amazing architecture structures over the years, people are still living in tents. .
Temporary employment, like temporary architecture, is taking on a whole new meaning, as workers are fighting back at being temporary or considered disposable.
temporary = political = disposable
temporary = social = memories
homeless (adj.) ‘having no permanent abode’, 1610s, from home (n.) + -less. Old English had hamleas, As a noun meaning ‘homeless persons’, by 1857.
1680s: ‘one who flees to a refuge or shelter or place of safety; one who in times of persecution or political disorder flees to a foreign country for safety’, from French refugié, a noun use of the past participle of refugier ‘to take shelter, protect’, from Old French refuge ‘hiding place’, from Latin refugium ‘a taking refuge; place to flee back to’, from re - ‘back’ (see re-) + fugere ‘to flee’ (see fugitive (adj.)) + -ium , neuter ending in a sense of ‘place for’.
Shigeru Ban Architects and Ikea: life in a box without the Allen Wrench — temporary privacy screens at the Hoita Elementary School Ukraine Refugee Assistance Project Slovakia, is a project supported by IKEA (the mega centre for disposable items).
The question is why temporary?
Foster+Partners has designed two residential towers on Al Reem Island, UAE, currently under construction close to the north eastern coast of Abu Dhabi city. When complete in 2024 it will house 280,000 residents, as well as providing schools, medical clinics, shopping malls, restaurants, sports facilities, hotels, resorts, spas, gardens and beaches.
One million Rohingya refugees live in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, fleeing persecution, widespread violence and human rights violations in Myanmar.
makeshift: an interesting word, make shift:
makeshift, adj., 1680s, ‘of the nature of a temporary expedient’, which led to the noun sense of ‘that with which one meets a present need or turn, a temporary substitute’ (by 1802).
permanent, adj. ‘enduring, unchanging, unchanged, lasting or intended to last indefinitely’, early 15c., from Old French permanent, parmanent (14c.) or directly from Latin permanentem (nominative permanens) ‘remaining’, present participle of permanere ‘endure, hold out, continue, stay to the end’, from per ‘through’ + manere ‘stay’ (from PIE root *men-(3) ‘to remain’).
'Nearly everything that encloses space on a scale sufficient for a human being to move in is a building; the term architecture applies only to buildings designed with a view to aesthetic appeal.' — Nikolaus Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture. London: John Murray, 1943
This might explain why we have an abundance of churches that are not temporary or disposable.
Who decides what is temporary? Have you gone for a walk in your neighbourhood, and find there is something missing — a whole community missing, buildings and stores, and wondered where all the people have gone? In their place a hole, and soon another glass tower.
What is possible
What is possible!
Tens of millions of pilgrims attend Kumbh Melas every three to four years, praying the holy waters will free them from the cycle of rebirth. The Kumbh Mela is planned/ designed to be erected and inhabited as soon as the monsoon season ends and the riverbanks emerge from the water, and then dismantled before the flood waters return.
Kumbha in Kumbh Mela literally means ‘pitcher, jar, pot’ in Sanskrit. It is found in the Vedic texts often in the context of holding water or in mythical legends about the nectar of immortality...The word mela means ‘unite, join, meet, move together, assembly, junction’ in Sanskrit, particularly in the context of fairs and community celebration. (from wikipedia)
Who decides what is temporary and makeshift? If a structure no matter how temporary or makeshift can be constructed to accommodate 200 million people, does that not suggest the possibility of creating many small permanent communities?
Canada’s national database estimates that there are approximately 235,000 homeless people across the country.
What if – the planning and management model for a Kumbh Mela, one of the wonders of modern management, and, say, Foster+Partners with their global and political clout, collaborated to build permanent shelter, not for money, but for humanity?
Maybe it is just magical thinking.
Imagine what is possible.
ANNE O’CALLAGHAN uses a range of media to emphasise the idea behind an artwork over how it is made or what it is made from. O’Callaghan and lives and works in Toronto.
