temporary anne o ’ callaghan
Online Etymology Dictionary
temporal (adj.) late 14c., ‘worldly, secular’; also
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?
Yona Friedman. ‘Guidelines for People’s Architecture’, Mobile Architecture, People’s Architecture. Rome: MAXXI | Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, 2017
‘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.
Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images
Tents fill the outskirts of Dagahaley refugee camp in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex on July 24, 2011. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates Dadaab is receiving 1,300 new arrivals each day, adding to the numbers in the already drastically overpopulated camp. Dadaab was opened twenty years ago, with a capacity of 90,000 people. Current estimates place the refugee population here at around 380,000 people. The European Union aid commissioner vowed yesterday to do all that is possible to help 12 million people struggling from extreme drought across the Horn of Africa, boosting aid by 27.8 million euros ($40 million).
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.
Courtesy of Glenbow Library and Archives Collection, University of Calgary
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.
Prospector’s tent on waterfront, Dawson, Yukon, Territory, 1899, these camps were not temporary structures but portable, when the prospectors moved on they struck camp. These tents were also used by geologists and archaeologists.
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’
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on site review 43: architecture and t ime
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