Title

Author(s)

Jonas Klaassen

Affiliation

Institute of Architecture Technology, TU Graz

DOI

https://doi.org/10.65686/RECW2921

Keywords

Ephemeral Architecture, Lightweight Construction, Urban Instruments

PP

509-516

How to Cite

Klaassen, Jonas. “Ephemeral Reuse Festivals and Public Space in 18th century Paris.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on Adaptive Reuse. Volume 1, edited by Andrea Crudeli, Francesca Molle, and Emanuele Carrai, 509–516. Firenze: STH Press, 2026.

Abstract

While adaptive reuse is often associated with the transformation of permanent buildings, this paper examines ephemeral architectures as reusable and adaptive spatial forms and their potential for creating sustainable communities. Both ephemerality and adaptive reuse are historical constants. Their recurrent, symbolically charged interventions have long participated in making and remaking urban space. This paper undertakes a comparative case study of late-eighteenth-century royal and revolutionary festivals in Paris. Drawing on archival descriptions and images, it analyses ephemeral spatial compositions and construction logics with a focus on reuse. Each approach balances spatial aesthetics, performance, and cost differently and encodes distinct conceptions of social order within public space. Spatial comparison and historical contextualization of political–administrative hierarchies demonstrate the mechanisms by which ephemeral reuse functions as an operative strategy for the long-term structuring of public space. The findings motivate design and management principles – bridging reversibility, accessibility, and spatial composition – that translate historical event practice into contemporary strategies for ephemeral reuse. Conceived as a critical architectural strategy, ephemeral reuse displaces centralized planning authority toward event-based, reconfigurable infrastructures, opening possibility spaces and offering prefigurative models for inclusive, iterative city-making in contemporary urbanism.

Edited by
Andrea Crudeli
Francesca Molle
Emanuele Carrai

Publisher
STH Press, Firenze

ISBN Paperback – 9791281661141
ISBN Ebook – 9791281661158
DOI – https://doi.org/10.65686/SISY7263

Year
2026

Proceedings of
International Conference on Adaptive Reuse
hosted by The University of Pisa, Italy
15-19 September 2025, at the Gispoteca di Arte Antica dell’Università di Pisa.