More Mobile

Book excerpt: The allure of mobile, portable architecture is worldwide and centuries old. From the desert tents of the Bedouin to the silvery capsules of the Airstream trailer, mobile architecture has inspired designers with its singular characteristics of lightness, transience, and practicality. In "More Mobile", the follow-up to her groundbreaking 2002 book Mobile, Jennifer Siegal explores the ever-growing range of possibilities of portable, demountable structures. From serious Refuge Wear to the playful Bar Rectum and the practical Kunsthallen, "More Mobile" explores the working methods and finished work of the most exciting contemporary designers and presents today’s most dynamic, active mobile structures in beautiful color images, detailed drawings, and thoughtful text. Contributors include Studio-Orta, Dré Wapenaar, Andrea Zittel, Andrew Maynard, Andreas Vogler, Horden Cherry Lee Architects, N55, Atelier Bow-Wow, Mark Fisher Studio, MMW, LOT-EK, and the Office of Mobile Design. A foreword by Jude Stewart discusses life on the move, while an introduction by William J. Mitchell considers the house as a robot in which to live.