‘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
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’).
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. 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?
Anne O’Callaghan
from the series, Walking Toronto
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 )
Maybe it is just magical thinking.
Imagine what is possible.
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Dharmendra Chahar
200 million Hindus gathered for the Allahabad Kumbh Mela in 2019
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.
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on site review 43: architecture and t ime
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