Notes about spontaneity in touristic architecture

The ownership of a second home or an apartment on the beach or in the mountains is a luxury; it does not answer a fundamental human need. Touristic architecture has always been considered secondary, due to its connotation as “unnecessary”. This simplistic idea means that very little attention has ever been paid to re- search on typologies and development of touristic architectures. Since late 70s, however, the boom in mass tourism has made “travelling” into a primary human need. It is only now that we have started to understand the impacts and consequences of our lack of attention and to notice that it has strongly affected the evolution of touristic architecture, both morphologically and territorially. When we compare the residential architecture of the industrial city with its contemporary touristic architecture, the spontaneous character appears to have undergone a completely different morphological evolution. And, from a territorial point of view, touristic architecture has had devastating effects on the landscape, especially in coastal areas. Spontaneity in touristic architecture can be analysed in two main ways: first on the territorial scale, examining the foundation process of the first touristic cities, and second by focusing on the spatial appropriation possibilities, taking the “campsite” as a touristic architecture typology. We can therefore express spontaneity on two different scales, urban and architectonic, both strongly influenced by the seasonal and temporary nature of tourism.