Architecture has always been associated with the qualities of permanence and timelessness. The thesis investigates the notions of temporality and permanence in relation to the built environment. It recognizes that in the ever changing dynamic flux of the built environment, there is an architectural paradigm which is as important as the imagined timeless structures that constitute the architectural discourse.First, the notions of permanence are discussed. It is pointed out that what is considered to be permanent in architecture is, in fact, the `image' of the building, and not the actual structure as it constantly changing, deteriorating, and undergoing metamorphosis with time. The second part deals with the constructs of time and space through history; resultant architectural theories and its effects on the built environment.An attempt to understand the history of temporary architectures is made in the third part. Further analysis draws on the understanding of the difference in the western and the eastern perspective on temporary architecture. In the fourth part it is argued that there are alternative ways of looking at temporary architectures that need to be addressed. One of the ways of looking at them is how they affect the urban and the public realm.The fifth part of the thesis, discusses the various meanings of urban space and the formation of the public realm. The contrasting examples of the transforming urban space in Ahmadabad, India and San Francisco, USA give an insight of the ways temporary architectures can assist in the ever changing urban environment.The sixth part proposes a diagram of taxonomical organization through which temporary architecture(s) can be better understood; namely as `temporary structures',' temporary spaces', `temporary uses/users' and the resulting `temporary urbanisms.'The concluding chapter finally discusses the importance of recognizing this void in our understanding of temporary architecture; as also realizing their importance in creation of a successful urban realm. / Department of Architecture

This document voices the story of siting and constructing a hidden, "squatted studio" space within a bridge superstructure over the White River in downtown Anderson, Indiana. It includes interpretations of this "build-design-build" project; a field study (CapAsia) in Sri Lanka with faculty and students from the University of Moratuwa; and the author's work alongside undergraduate design students and faculty colleagues at Anderson University, Anderson, Indiana. The project documents and extends occasions of experience that inform a pedagogy of total loss teaching. The `squatted studio' is presented as architectural form and practice congruent with a total loss approach to learning understood by these statements: there is nothing to gain by total loss teaching as there is no profit in it-waste nothing, and make useful everything at hand. The subversive transformation of materials and space by communities of learners illuminates the affects of total loss teaching. / Department of Architecture

To build for living is to understand that built form exists only in relationship to the life that occupies it and that human life is better when it is in constant interaction with the built environment; we design it, build it, and change it as we design, build, and change our selves. Making your own place and changing it over time is an important component of living one's life to its fullest. To explore these issues, designs were made for an adaptable building type - the "mountain hut," a temporary accommodation for its wandering inhabitants. Designing it twice, as well as relocating the initial building type across the globe, from the mountains of Sierra Nevada to the Himalayas in Nepal, provided an opportunity to compare and understand the influences of local environmental and cultural conditions on the building's adaptability, as well as the level of interactivity its inhabitants could experience as they occupied and transformed the dwelling. Both designs incorporate sustainable design principles, which strengthen the overall comparison of climatic responses and the use of local materials and building technologies. / Department of Architecture