The kinetic object has an innate potency that has persisted throughout human design history. Power, speed, intelligence, beauty, can all be conveyed in the vehicles which have always expressed significant technological advances in the most visible way. When these moving objects possess other functions associated with the rituals and circumstances of dwelling, commerce, and industry this significance is reinforced and in some cases reinvented. Yet moving buildings are amongst the earliest human-made artefacts, pre-dating vehicles, and have a persisting relevance that enables a Bedouin tent occupied by a single family to exist in the same world as a 90,000 ton aircraft carrier which is a moving home to 5,500 people. 

The usual perception of temporary architecture is, however, of impermanent, transient, low-quality building, neither tuned to its purpose nor appropriate to its site. In the developed world, commercially manufactured demountable buildings are already used in many diverse locations - in commerce, industry, education, health care, housing, and the military - yet the varied products used in these roles, though considerably more sophisticated in materials and construction, seem to have evolved through an ad-hoc design process. Very few demountable buildings have been designed for a dedicated user with that user's specific requirements in mind, and very few make much use of knowledge from designs that have gone before and the sometimes more advanced technology available in other unrelated applications.

This research examines the history and development of portable, re-locatable, demountable and flexible architecture; assesses contemporary examples by designers, builders, and manufacturers; and explores the products of related industries where the possibility of technology transfer to this area of design has yet to be fully appreciated. The functional demands made of portable buildings undoubtedly define their form, which is then shaped by the technology available for their construction. This work examines these pragmatic issues but also explores the underlying philosophical, cultural and social issues that have shaped this physical manifestation, for it is in this area that the relationship between architectural form and suitability to purpose can be effectively gauged and the lessons learnt applied to future design work.  

(Extract from the introduction to Architecture in Motion: The History and Development of the Portable Building, Routledge, 2013)