in 2011 and still things were not resolved. People were taking to the streets again and Tahrir Square was once more the centre of the movement, only now mere tents were not enough. The situation called for a different kind of statement, and Mohammed had thought that the structures that housed and sheltered the protestors should be part of this new symbolism just the same. A few years back he had been working for the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo and once found a drawing of a project that one the visiting artists – Jeroen Kooijmans – had presented. At the time, the design of the structure intrigued Mohammed because it was such a straightforward plan: a simple house that could open and close. He immediately thought how handy it would be to have such a structure on the rooftop of his building to use for storage in the winter, and a place in which to meet and drink tea in the summer. He copied the design on the Xerox machine and resolved to speak to his brother about building it in the spring, but then things got worse in the city and it was no longer a priority. Almost three years later, he was sleeping in a tent on Tahrir Square with hundreds of others when one night – cursing the rocks and cold ground – he remembered the drawing he had made and the artist’s presentation. Excitedly, he called his brother and uncle and immediately began building. He now stood before his very own Folding House. It was a bit smaller in scale from the one he saw on the artist’s drawing, but no less impressive. He stood imagining how he soon would have a semi-permanent structure in which to live, eat, discuss and sleep, as long as it took to bring about change in the country he loved so much. He smiled to think of how awe-stricken the military troops would be when he simply closed off the house from the outside world. More so, he imagined their disbelief when confronted with a hundred of these structures, because 38
Mohammed had passed on the design to as many people as he knew would able to build one and use on the square. His uncle’s truck arrived and with the help of every man in the street, the Folding House was lifted onto the truck. Mohammed and Hussein patted each other on the back and got into the front. With the distinct silhouette of a hose on the back, the truck moved off down the street, only just missing the cars parked on each side. Tahrir was only a ten-minute drive, but the cargo it carried was worth weeks, if not months, of work.
Amsterdam 19 May 2012 It is a hot day by Amsterdam standards, and Cees is smoking a lot. He is in the final days of his studies at the Academy for Architecture and busily working on his final proposal, which will be reviewed and assessed in just over two weeks. Cigarettes not only calm his nerves and give him an excuse to be outside on such a fine day, the designated smoking area also reminds him of a pivotal moment during his studies. A moment he will carry with him for a long time, perhaps even forever. Cees is sitting in a Folding House designed by Jeroen Kooijmans, which stands on the middle of the small square just outside the cantina. Cees was part of the class that worked together with Kooijmans when he was visiting artist in 2010. He remembered that he thought it strange the Academy had invited an artist to work with students. He soon found out he was mistaken. As an artist, he challenged the students to think more about the possibilities of building without being burdened by any of the impossibilities such as financing, building codes and gravity. In no way could Cees remember what he had imagined for this conceptual experiment.
typology: long lasting versus temporary