A new book shows small, portable projects can both be fun and tackle larger design challenges The Serpentine Pavilion, the summer exhibition in London featuring a small, temporary pavilion by a famous architect, has become a fixture on the annual arts calendar. For London-based writer Rebecca Roke, these types of smaller structure, which have proliferated in the last decade, succeed in large part because of their accessibility.
?People think ?I could do that,?? she says. ?It?s a way for design/architecture to be more approachable than, for instance, a multi-million pound house.?
The rise in small, flexible, and pop-up structures, what Roke has dubbed ?mobitecture? in her new book for Phaidon, has been a boon for cities and public space, drawing people to parks and pavilions, helping to animate vacant or underutilized space, and providing a creative draw to encourage people to meet and mingle. Mobitecture can be ?an attractor through interesting architecture proposals,? she says.
Lambert Kamps
The Caterpillar by Dutch designer Lambert Kamps, made from PVC and steel cables, offers a portable, itinerant theater that holds up to 30.

But while may of these creations are whimsical and fun, perhaps more importantly, mobile and quickly constructed pavilions, miniature dwellings, and public spaces give architects and designers a way to immediately respond to the social issues and the larger design challenges of the day. By compiling numerous example...