0:00:02 > 0:00:05Right now, as I speak, thousands of Brits are frantically packing
0:00:05 > 0:00:07and, for many, fretting about their annual, and only,
0:00:07 > 0:00:11stint under canvas, as they get set for Glastonbury Festival.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Camping at a music festival has become a rite of passage.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Ritual roughing-it is integral to the feeling of leaving
0:00:20 > 0:00:24your normal life behind and letting go, if only for the weekend.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27# No pressure... #
0:00:31 > 0:00:34I, myself, have never been much of a camper and, I must admit,
0:00:34 > 0:00:36throughout my career in architecture,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38I've somewhat overlooked the tent,
0:00:38 > 0:00:42instead plumping for brutalist hunks of concrete, the reassuring might
0:00:42 > 0:00:46of bricks and mortar and the rigid power of steel and glass.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50But the humble tent is not only the very first building
0:00:50 > 0:00:54that humans ever created, it has evolved into some of the most
0:00:54 > 0:00:58sophisticated, futuristic and hi-tech buildings on Earth.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02And stitched into the fabric of all tents is a defiant streak.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07They are a rebellious force, in both architecture and society, at large.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12But perhaps, in an age of dwindling natural resources,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15overcrowded cities and a whole generation locked out
0:01:15 > 0:01:19of the housing market, a look back to our nomadic roots
0:01:19 > 0:01:22and the tent, in particular, will give us some clues
0:01:22 > 0:01:24about how to build a better future.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36Architecture, as we know it, dates back to the end of the last Ice Age.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39About 10,000 years ago or so. The big thaw brought about the advent
0:01:39 > 0:01:42of agriculture. Before you know it, we are knocking up
0:01:42 > 0:01:45all sorts of buildings, in which to store our food, our tools,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48our animals and ourselves.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57But before this monumental shift in civilisation happened,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01early nomadic humans found that the skin of a woolly mammoth,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05stretched over some kind of animal bones, made for a surprisingly
0:02:05 > 0:02:08cosy home - one they could carry with them when they went in search
0:02:08 > 0:02:13of food and water. In fact, all architecture began with a tent.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Depending on where you live, there are three types of tents -
0:02:17 > 0:02:20the Middle Eastern black tent, or Bedouin tent,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23spread throughout the civilised world during the Arab conquests
0:02:23 > 0:02:25of the 8th century.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30It takes its name from the goat hair used traditionally in its covering.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Its minimal use of wood means it was particularly popular where resources
0:02:33 > 0:02:35were scarce - ie the desert.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40The ger, more commonly called the yurt. The yurt's rediscovery
0:02:40 > 0:02:43by the glamping set is not wholly undeserved.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47These Central Asian structures are pretty luxurious, by nomadic homes'
0:02:47 > 0:02:51standards, with wood-burning stoves and ornate furniture,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and today, they are still the most popular dwelling in Mongolia.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00And the iconic conical tent of the native Americans - the tepee.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02It is a masterstroke of design -
0:03:02 > 0:03:06wooden poles lashed together and covered in bison hide.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Quick to put up and easy to transport,
0:03:08 > 0:03:09when it is time to move on.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12These majestic homes of the nomads
0:03:12 > 0:03:15tick the three boxes of brilliant design -
0:03:15 > 0:03:18simple, useful and beautiful -
0:03:18 > 0:03:20and they formed a blueprint for the tent
0:03:20 > 0:03:23that remains the same today as it's been for centuries.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Mike, architecturally speaking, what are those core principles that
0:03:29 > 0:03:32- hold up a tent?- Basically, you need an enclosure,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35which is bent, generally, fabric, you need something to hoist that
0:03:35 > 0:03:40fabric into the air, like a pole or a hoop, and then you need to tie
0:03:40 > 0:03:43them both down to what is often forgotten, the ground,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45- which is the third part of the system.- That's fascinating!
0:03:45 > 0:03:48So, those three things apply to a simple tent like this,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51but also a tent as big as this...
0:03:52 > 0:03:57MUSIC: "Millennium" by Robbie Williams
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Our nation's grandest tent, the 02, or Millennium Dome,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12as we called it back in '99, caused more fuss than any other
0:04:12 > 0:04:15British building of the 20th century.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20With a circumference of over a kilometre and 100,000
0:04:20 > 0:04:22square metres under the Teflon-coated shell,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25it was the biggest tent ever built.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31When you get to a tent the size of this, things must get a bit more
0:04:31 > 0:04:34complicated than those three core principles, do they?
0:04:34 > 0:04:36Basically, they are the same.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40Still fabric, poles holding it up and the ground to hold it all down
0:04:40 > 0:04:43under tension, which means it is not flapping about.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47So, it is a very simple idea and it is exactly the same as the mini ones
0:04:47 > 0:04:49that we have all camped in all our lives.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Where did the idea come from? When you got the brief and so on,
0:04:52 > 0:04:57- did "tent" first leap into your head?- It was virtually impossible
0:04:57 > 0:05:00to get out of the government any form of brief for the buildings.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02We passed the point at which you could have delivered
0:05:02 > 0:05:05old-fashioned buildings on the site. So, we went away thinking,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08"Well, we have got to have something that goes very fast,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12"is cheap to build, is a light touch on the site and that says tent."
0:05:12 > 0:05:16A tent may have been the perfect design solution
0:05:16 > 0:05:20for the Millennium Experience, but the British taxpayer wasn't so sure.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Do you think it is that we don't value temporary structures,
0:05:24 > 0:05:25like a tent, a temporary thing?
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Something that means we are not willing to spend money on it.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32When you put big-scale stuff up that is temporary, there is
0:05:32 > 0:05:35- a national resistance to it. - Now, people pay to come up on top.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38We are very proud of it. It was a temporary structure
0:05:38 > 0:05:42and, actually, it is here 15 years later, which is probably a third
0:05:42 > 0:05:45of the way through its real life, with seven million people a year
0:05:45 > 0:05:48going through it. I suspect it will go on for a long time.
0:05:48 > 0:05:5215 years after this was built, it's still the best tent in Britain,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55if not the world. They were very sceptical about it when it was
0:05:55 > 0:05:59first completed and I think that taps into the strange relationship
0:05:59 > 0:06:01we Brits have with camping.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05# In the summer time when the weather is hot
0:06:05 > 0:06:08# You can stretch right up and touch the sky
0:06:08 > 0:06:10# When the weather's fine You got women
0:06:10 > 0:06:13# You got women on your mind... #
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Think of a tent, you automatically think camping.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Some love it, some hate it. And it is quite possible to both
0:06:20 > 0:06:23love and hate it, all at the same time.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Camping can be everything from the soggy and uncomfortable staycation
0:06:27 > 0:06:29some of us endured as kids,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33to a blissful, life-affirming experience, bringing us closer
0:06:33 > 0:06:36to nature - the perfect escape from the stresses of modern life.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Either way, it's a choice we can make - to camp or not to camp?
0:06:43 > 0:06:46But many don't have that choice.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49For them, life under canvas is the last resort.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56The tent still provides the most effective solution
0:06:56 > 0:06:59for dispossessed or disaster-stricken refugees.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02And its ability to provide shelter away from home
0:07:02 > 0:07:06also makes the tent a vital weapon in political dissent.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11From the anti-capitalist tent cities of the Occupy movement,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15to Brian Haw's ten-year anti-war vigil in Parliament Square.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19And these recent canvas sit-ins owe a debt to the mother of all
0:07:19 > 0:07:22tent protests, which came at a point in modern history
0:07:22 > 0:07:26when our entire human existence seemed under threat.
0:07:27 > 0:07:3232 years ago, this RAF base here at Greenham Common in West Berkshire
0:07:32 > 0:07:34became the site of the longest-running protest,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37or peace camp, in British history.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40This was the height of the Cold War. The fear of nuclear annihilation
0:07:40 > 0:07:44was almost palpable, so when the decision was taken to locate
0:07:44 > 0:07:49US cruise missiles right here, their sights set on Communist Russia,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53direct and physical action seemed to be the only way to object.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56It was time to set up camp.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15There was a lot of women living here. The winter of, kind of, '83-'84,
0:08:15 > 0:08:22which was at the peak of the protest, there were 100 women living here.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23Sasha Roseneil,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26now a professor of Sociology at Birkbeck, University of London,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30left school in 1983 and came directly to Greenham
0:08:30 > 0:08:31to join the camp.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Woman had tents scattered, kind of, all over. It was quite spread out.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Why did you have to choose tents as a way of living
0:08:41 > 0:08:43- and expressing your protest? - Early on,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45at the beginning, there were a couple
0:08:45 > 0:08:48of caravans and they were situated outside the main gate.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52But quite early on, they got evicted, they got seized by the state.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56After that, everything became much more temporary.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58If you were being evicted every few hours,
0:08:58 > 0:09:02- barely you could even have tents. - It must have been quite a wrench
0:09:02 > 0:09:06to move from a settled life - the stuff that we all tend to have -
0:09:06 > 0:09:10- to being almost a permanent nomad. - Well, I was 17. 17-year-olds
0:09:10 > 0:09:14- are remarkably...- Adaptable.- Yeah, adaptable, and it was an adventure,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17but also, it felt like the most important thing to be done
0:09:17 > 0:09:20in the world at that moment. It really did feel, to me, in 1983,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23like the world was on the eve... the brink of nuclear war.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33We are here to make people aware that this base is preparing to take
0:09:33 > 0:09:38cruise missiles, which will kill everyone man, woman and child, possibly, on the planet.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41It's part of wanting him to grow up in a safer world.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45It's part of wanting him to have an Earth to live on.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50The peace camp at Greenham Common became a symbolic
0:09:50 > 0:09:53and often literal battle ground of a conflict between the state
0:09:53 > 0:09:57and a generation coming of age during the nuclear arms race.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01The humble tent, it seemed, was the vital barrier keeping the bombs at bay.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Protest camp has become quite a common form of protest now.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12There were the anti-roads protests, which were very close to here,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14and then the Occupy movement.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18They've used similar kind of... going to the site of contestation,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22living outdoors, making a kind of statement by being there.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25I love that idea of the tent being an enabler, the temporary
0:10:25 > 0:10:28lightweight structure being an enabler for this kind of protest.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32And it doesn't take up ownership in the way that if you build a house,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35you're taking root on the land, whereas a tent is
0:10:35 > 0:10:39just digging very slightly into the ground, a few inches really.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41Or even just sitting on the ground,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43so it's not making a claim to property
0:10:43 > 0:10:45in the way that building a house is.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49The 19-year occupation of Greenham Common endured long after
0:10:49 > 0:10:53the last missile was removed from the site in 1991.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56This wasn't the first time that the powerful but peaceful
0:10:56 > 0:10:59presence of the tent has triumphed
0:10:59 > 0:11:01in the face of a dominant and fortified regime.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10I'm now heading to Stuttgart, the heart of Vorsprung durch Technik,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14and also the home of one of architecture's great heroes.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19A man who believed the tensile structures in nature could be used
0:11:19 > 0:11:21to rebuild post-war Germany
0:11:21 > 0:11:25and show the way to a lighter, brighter future for the world.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51I always wanted to be an architect.
0:11:51 > 0:11:57My father was a sculptor and a stonemason. My grandfather too.
0:11:57 > 0:12:03So that's quite clear, my start into architecture.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Frei Otto's ambitions in architecture
0:12:08 > 0:12:12were nearly thwarted in 1943 when he was drafted into the Luftwaffe,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15becoming a fighter pilot in World War II.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Near the end of the war, Otto was captured
0:12:19 > 0:12:22and held as a prisoner of war near Chartres in France,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25where he was put to work repairing the various temporary structures
0:12:25 > 0:12:29on the site, using as little valuable material as possible.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34I was a soldier who lost the war.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39And we never wanted to lose the war.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42But we never wanted to make a war.
0:12:44 > 0:12:51After the war, I like to find a new way in the future
0:12:51 > 0:12:57to make a real revolution in architecture.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02Remaking Germany as a peaceful country.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Frei Otto often said that his experience as a prisoner of war
0:13:06 > 0:13:09told him that we should build with less material.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14Thinness, lightness and another realm of geometry,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17typically the double curved dancing thing
0:13:17 > 0:13:19instead of the rectangular,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23very strong, concrete masonry type.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Hitler had fused the classical grandeur of ancient Rome
0:13:30 > 0:13:33with monumental modernism for the buildings which would be
0:13:33 > 0:13:35the cornerstones of the Third Reich.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40The likes of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin
0:13:40 > 0:13:43and the Zeppelin field arena in Nuremberg reflect
0:13:43 > 0:13:45how the totalitarian rule of the Nazis
0:13:45 > 0:13:50was expressed in the sheer might of their brand of fascist architecture.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54What was wrong with the architecture of the past
0:13:54 > 0:13:56that you wanted to change?
0:13:57 > 0:14:04It was not showing the new kind of thinking
0:14:04 > 0:14:07of the '50s and '60s.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Not to make stiff buildings,
0:14:12 > 0:14:17but to make flexibility in structures.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29In 1964, after completing his architectural training,
0:14:29 > 0:14:34Otto founded the Institute of Lightweight Structures in Stuttgart
0:14:34 > 0:14:37and began a programme of pioneering new research.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44What was the core philosophy behind the Institute?
0:14:44 > 0:14:48This philosophy at those times was the search for the minimum weight.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53Once you reach that goal, it evolves to be relatively simple and clear.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56It typically deals with complicated materials, etc.
0:14:59 > 0:15:00Frei Otto dedicated his career
0:15:00 > 0:15:03to studying the mathematical purity of structures
0:15:03 > 0:15:05that occur in the natural world.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09He discovered that the physics of coral reefs, spider webs
0:15:09 > 0:15:11and particularly soap bubbles held the answer
0:15:11 > 0:15:14to constructing the most efficient buildings.
0:15:15 > 0:15:24We have used many models from nature to develop new structures.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Look to the shells.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31And to the natural nets.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Like spider webs and so on.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36It always seems to me there are certain people
0:15:36 > 0:15:40in the history of architecture and engineering
0:15:40 > 0:15:43who have this very strong, inner, driven vision
0:15:43 > 0:15:45that comes from their early experiences.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50And his passion for simplicity and following nature instilled in me,
0:15:50 > 0:15:55personally, a fascination for the purity of structure
0:15:55 > 0:15:58that you can get in a tent, in a tensile form.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01And of course I think he did the same for so many other people
0:16:01 > 0:16:03because he was inspiring us
0:16:03 > 0:16:07with projects like the Munich Olympic Stadium,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10to strive for what he was showing was possible.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Otto's greatest ever tent
0:16:15 > 0:16:18and a breakthrough in his project to build a new Germany is
0:16:18 > 0:16:22the web-like structure he developed with fellow architect Gunther Behnisch
0:16:22 > 0:16:27to cover the Munich stadium for the 1972 Olympic Games.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31For the first time since the age of the nomads, the tent was back.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34# Breathe
0:16:34 > 0:16:37# Breathe in the air
0:16:40 > 0:16:45# Don't be afraid to care... #
0:16:46 > 0:16:50- Do you remember visiting the stadium?- Definitely.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54- What impact did it have on you? - Something I'd never seen before.
0:16:54 > 0:16:55It was like...
0:16:55 > 0:17:00I always think, when a poor farmer in the 12th century came first time
0:17:00 > 0:17:04to a big city and saw one of these Gothic cathedrals,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07he probably got a deadly shock.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11And at those times, when normal people first went to Munich
0:17:11 > 0:17:14and saw that, they couldn't believe it.
0:17:14 > 0:17:15This was breathtaking.
0:17:18 > 0:17:19The Olympic stage showcased
0:17:19 > 0:17:23the Stuttgart School of lightweight architecture to the world.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26And from the ashes of World War II, an exciting
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and credible field in architecture was born.
0:17:30 > 0:17:37It was astonishing how quick was the speed
0:17:37 > 0:17:43that the ideas were reaching over all the world.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Tents are very old, 2,000 years and more.
0:17:49 > 0:17:56But that they can be used as houses, as bridges, this was new.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58It was a wonderful time.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09What is your greatest achievement?
0:18:09 > 0:18:11I really don't know
0:18:11 > 0:18:19if I am far enough away from my time of beginning.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25Of course, I am now an old man, having great success.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29What shall I have more?
0:18:29 > 0:18:34Because what we really did with this new evolution
0:18:34 > 0:18:43was to enlarge the possibilities to make a kind of paradise.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47As Frei Otto set about redefining Germany
0:18:47 > 0:18:51with elemental mathematics and ground-breaking engineering,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54back here in swinging '60s London,
0:18:54 > 0:18:56a maverick new collective of British architects,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59calling themselves Archigram, came of age with their own
0:18:59 > 0:19:03unique take on a lightweight utopian future.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14The '60s was very productive. There was a lot of architecture going on
0:19:14 > 0:19:17and when people like me graduated there was plenty to do.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20But it all was sort of concrete-y and solid and...
0:19:20 > 0:19:22good quality but ploddy.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26A lot of technology had been developed in the Second World War -
0:19:26 > 0:19:29lightweight materials and things on the end of wires and tents.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31And we were the children of that.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34- REPORTER:- Archigram thinks architects should stop making
0:19:34 > 0:19:37bigger and better boxes and get down to the real business
0:19:37 > 0:19:41of architecture today, which they think is survival.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43In rejecting their "bigger and better boxes"
0:19:43 > 0:19:46of the incumbent generation of architects,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Archigram soon began experimenting with tents.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54The tent is a room and that makes it "architectural".
0:19:54 > 0:19:58The tent is thin - that makes it intellectual and extreme.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01The tent is also the extended raincoat.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03The tent is also the extended duvet.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08I'm going to go out now with an umbrella in my pocket.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11It is, in effect, a tent. It just doesn't have sides to it.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14I mean, down the street here there are little coffee vans
0:20:14 > 0:20:18that you have the gadget machine and then you have the van
0:20:18 > 0:20:20and then you have the tent that comes out.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22And that's like Mike Webb's Cushicle.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25The Cushicle was described as
0:20:25 > 0:20:28"a single, fully outfitted living unit".
0:20:28 > 0:20:31It was a mobile structure in two parts -
0:20:31 > 0:20:33a chassis with personalised appliances
0:20:33 > 0:20:35within an inflatable envelope.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40The Cushicle never went into production.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42In fact, none of Archigram's designs
0:20:42 > 0:20:46made it much further than the pages of their artfully handmade magazine.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51But this didn't matter. To Archigram the tent was an intellectual idea.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55It represented an alternative to the established norms,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59a device with which to poke the status quo.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02We used to say, "This'll upset them."
0:21:02 > 0:21:06We never said who the "them" were but we know exactly who they were.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10They were the kind of philistine...
0:21:10 > 0:21:14straight up and down, "Let's keep it all calm, let's keep it all cool,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18"let's be reasonable," people. And we would just say...
0:21:18 > 0:21:20"This'll upset them."
0:21:20 > 0:21:25So, you could say there was a degree of, dare I say it, aggression.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28And I think there should be a bit more aggression now.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33There should be people doing naughty stuff just to piss the others off.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Archigram's inventions are now cherished
0:21:35 > 0:21:37by the architecture establishment,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40and Sir Peter Cook is one the highly regarded practitioners
0:21:40 > 0:21:42and teachers in the profession.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44But the houses being built in the '60s and '70s
0:21:44 > 0:21:48failed to reflect his progressive vision.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52And during the '80s and '90s the momentum was lost in the pursuit
0:21:52 > 0:21:55of alternative, lightweight, temporary architecture.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Not just here, but in Germany, too, where Frei Otto's dream
0:21:58 > 0:22:02for a tented paradise for all began to look increasingly unlikely.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07People somehow lost the belief in the future.
0:22:07 > 0:22:12And they replaced that by a belief in today,
0:22:12 > 0:22:13so it was consumerism.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17The cars got bigger, the clothes got more expensive,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19there was more holidays, etc, etc.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23All those advanced technologies asking for lightweight, etc,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26they more or less disappeared, with a few exceptions.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30People wanted heavyweight... they didn't want efficiency,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33- they wanted to flash... - Nobody talked about efficiency.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35It was about sensationalism.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49The tent has found an occasional place in this era
0:22:49 > 0:22:52of building bigger, higher and more expensive.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Take Kazakhstan's Khan Shatyr, for example.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59It's the tallest tent in the world, and gives the citizens of Astana,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02the second-coldest capital city in the world,
0:23:02 > 0:23:07some relief from the elements outside its vast tensile walls.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10"Khan Shatyr" means "giant tent".
0:23:10 > 0:23:15It's a big entertainment centre. Predominantly it's about shopping.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18It's also got fun things - events, rides, and so on.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21And then right at the very top, inside this giant roof,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25there's a beach and waves and it feels like you're in
0:23:25 > 0:23:30a Mediterranean climate, if you like, a Mediterranean life in Siberia.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34This kind of extraordinary structure has echoes of the civic ambition
0:23:34 > 0:23:35of the Frei Otto era.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38But it does little to further the use of tents
0:23:38 > 0:23:40in everyday architecture.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45We are not using the resources
0:23:45 > 0:23:48of earth in the best way.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54We are using still too much material. Cities are burning.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56The tent will not disappear.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00It will come when it's necessary
0:24:00 > 0:24:04that they MUST come.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15So for the past 30 years the tent been something of a poor relation
0:24:15 > 0:24:16to conventional architecture.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20But maybe today with global environment in such a state
0:24:20 > 0:24:22and human habitat in crisis,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26as a population soars, maybe right now is when we should look again
0:24:26 > 0:24:30at the sustainable, flexible, lightweight strengths of the tent.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36I think the idea of less permanence is something we should be exploring.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38The world's changing around us.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42We're now international in every sense and I'm sure we should have
0:24:42 > 0:24:43things which are more mobile.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45We wouldn't demolish so much.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49We wouldn't need to demolish houses because they don't suit us any more,
0:24:49 > 0:24:51because within that space we can adapt.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54I think a lot of young architects are afraid
0:24:54 > 0:24:57to move outside the societal norms. They're literally scared.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01They know that these materials exist, they know that they could,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05but they're a bit nervous to want to be seen to be eccentric.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08And the technology is not the difficult bit.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12The psychology is the tricky bit.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Do the next generation of architects have the guts
0:25:15 > 0:25:18to buck the conservatism in their industry,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22risk being branded eccentric, and build the tents of the future?
0:25:22 > 0:25:25We set a challenge to two groups of young architects.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27The brief was simple -
0:25:27 > 0:25:31can you imagine the return of the tent in everyday architecture?
0:25:31 > 0:25:34And how will your plans reduce the damage we're doing to the planet
0:25:34 > 0:25:38and help house a swelling global population?
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Thank you, Peter, for joining us to have a little glimpse
0:25:41 > 0:25:45into the future and to see if there is future for the tent.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49We're going to kick of with Milo. Tell us about your project.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52OK, my project is called Tensile Utopia
0:25:52 > 0:25:56and it's essentially a project that tries to occupy invisible spaces
0:25:56 > 0:25:58within the city.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02This kind of system is a tensile system that kind of anchors into
0:26:02 > 0:26:07the existing context and provides itself with a means of inhabitants.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10It kind of moves away from the idea of the tent being the canopy.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15It kind of moves towards how tensile, as a material,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17can be used as planes
0:26:17 > 0:26:19and how they can form shapes and volumes of shapes.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22So it's providing a system that's very affordable,
0:26:22 > 0:26:26cost effective, adaptable, and it's continually changing.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31I think it's very good to have things that use not the perfect space.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34I mean, so much architecture in the past, and even in the present,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36sort of waits for the ideal situation.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39I think that's a real way of using energy, using time,
0:26:39 > 0:26:44using money, is to say, "Let's not wait for the perfect situation."
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Let's move on to Patch and Alice.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Our basic idea is an inflatable community,
0:26:50 > 0:26:55an inflatable shelter which adapted in response to external climate,
0:26:55 > 0:27:00and the daily functions of the day, and it all...packed into a backpack.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04We thought that maybe to touch on the housing crisis
0:27:04 > 0:27:06you could apply that to an urban scape.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09This is the kind of idea, as you can see from the backpack,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11that it's very transportable.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14It could be used overseas in crisis situations.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17There's no dividing line between something of city scale
0:27:17 > 0:27:19and something back pocket scale.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Again, conceptually, very interesting.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27Most architecture stops, it says, "This is a house. This is an office.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30"This is a block. This is a city."
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Oh, dear, we have to stop and think between each of them.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38It's great to see both projects sort of use underused patches of land
0:27:38 > 0:27:42in the city, which, certainly in big world cities like London,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45is at a premium. So they're very pragmatic but also utopian.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48I love how both of them are a little bit naughty
0:27:48 > 0:27:50and a little bit kind of counterculture.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53I think that's truly in the spirit of the tent.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58So, maybe there is a future for the tent after all.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01A future slightly grander maybe than just being another disposable
0:28:01 > 0:28:03structure chucked in the back of the car
0:28:03 > 0:28:05on the way to the latest festival.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Maybe it could solve our environmental crisis.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Maybe it could solve our housing crisis.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14But only if we harness the technological and utopian history.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17And only if we think of them again as a home.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Just as our nomadic ancestors did thousands of years before us.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22MUSIC: "Tent" by Bonzo Dog Band
0:28:22 > 0:28:26#I'm gonna get you in my tent, tent, tent, tent, tent
0:28:26 > 0:28:29# Where we can both experiment, ment, ment, ment, ment
0:28:29 > 0:28:33# Yeah, yay, it's so convenient, ent, ent, ent, ent
0:28:33 > 0:28:35# Let's take a taxi to my tent
0:28:36 > 0:28:39# Oh, yay, my love is so inscrutable
0:28:39 > 0:28:42# In a stoic sort of way
0:28:43 > 0:28:46# But, by baby, it's as beautiful
0:28:46 > 0:28:48# We'll dance the tango in my tent. #