Towards a Provisional Architecture

The provisional liberates architecture from the apocryphal lineage of western liberalism and its origin stories. Making buildings that are “just enough” subverts the building as a machine for appropriating capital and reinforcing hegemony. One can see the scrappy problem solving of provisional architecture at Knot City, a commune in Palmdale, California. Situated adjacent to Los Angeles, the commune is a refuge for the non-metronormative. The buildings are both a tool for and an expression of the residents’ diverse needs and desires. Systems, in all senses of the word, are developed to allow unfettered evolution, exploration, and expression.