Mobile Architecture

The revolutionary sixties anticipated a time when architecture would have to respond to the mobility, fast pace and transformability of a globalized world. And it seems that time has arrived now. Much more than a matter of technological growth, the ever-growing interest in the concept of mobile structures results from the fact it addresses a lot of the leading-edge social issues related to migration, social housing, recycling, post-disaster shelters, the optimal use of space in overcrowded cities. From the cargotecture of Shigeru Ban's Nomadic Museum and its smart use of recycled shipping containers, through the fancy Watervilla de Omval of 21st century's own affluent nomads floating in the Amstel river of Amsterdam, Archigram's utopian Walking City seems to be around a few corners.