Why Businesses Are Opting For Temporary Spaces Instead Of New Construction: The Pop-Up

A traveling exhibit takes thousands of square feet for six months. A car brand wants to test out a new city before signing a long-term lease. A film company suddenly needs an extra soundstage. In either case there is little point in creating a permanent property. But packing the project into an existing building that isn’t quite right isn’t optimal either. It is exactly this void where modular construction is becoming interesting for businesses.

Temporary is not basic anymore

Forget the standard marquee and a few folding chairs. Today's temporary event structures can have insulated walls, proper flooring, heating, lighting and custom interiors. Column-free large spaces are also possible.

But the time after the event is the real benefit. A modular building can possibly be disassembled, moved, expanded and reused.

Say an exhibition requires 3,500 sq meters for four months. Finding an existing venue with the right location and layout could be hard. A permanent exhibition hall would be too much. Another choice is to temporarily create the needed space.

Experience Chicago

A good instance comes from Chicago. When Hamilton: The Exhibition opened on Northerly Island in 2019, guests walked through 19 rooms combining history, multimedia installations and elements inspired by the Broadway musical.

Instead of fitting the exhibition into a pre-existing hall, a building was designed around the concept. Spantech delivered a 35 x 90 meter modular structure to order.

This distinction is important. The exhibition designers were not restricted by the existing building’s columns, rooms and dimensions. The space could be trailing the visitor experience.

Wembley proves what pace can bring

Businesses also consider temporary construction for its speed. Wembley Park will host a big Pixar exhibition in London and event specialist Star Live needed around 3,500 square meters of space. Spantech built a modular venue of 40 by 90 meters that was almost 11 meters high. In the project information, it is mentioned that the whole project was delivered within 45 days only.

Those 45 days make a difference to an event organizer. Tickets, advertising, suppliers and staff all revolve around an opening date. No matter how good a building may be when it is finished, if it is finished three months late, it may be useless.

Pop-ups can test a market

Temporary space can also answer a simple question: Is this spot worth a permanent investment?

Electric car maker NIO has launched a mobile showroom concept in Germany. The showroom will be at one place for four to six months or so and then move on.

In that time a company can see how many visitors are coming, what they are interested in and if inquiries turn into sales. This evidence is useful before committing to a long-term, expensive location.

The same problem plagues movie studios

Another industry where space requirements can change rapidly is film production. When an international streaming production needed additional capacity, Stage50 teamed up with Spantech. Some 45,000 square feet of temporary soundstage space was built in three months.

The example also illustrates why “temporary” should not be confused with “simple”. A soundstage isn’t four walls and a roof. You need acoustic performance and technical infrastructure.”

Start with a question: how long?

Modular construction is not guaranteed to be cheaper. Businesses still have to work out site prep, installation, utilities, interiors, transport and dismantling.

Hence time is a better starting point. Will the company need the space for six weeks, six months, or 20 years?

For a permanent operation, the conventional construction may still be the obvious solution. But for an exhibition, pop-up showroom, film production, or one-off event, another question is increasingly worth asking: Why build for decades when the business needs the space for only a season?