To celebrate Marseille European Capital of Culture 2013, YES WE CAMP! Organizers created a temporary urban campground in the center of Marseille, France. Michael Lefeber and BC Studies constructed temporary Hexa Structures from completely reused and reusable materials that were intended to be reminiscent of honeycomb structures designed to accommodate “busy bees” coming and going for the event.
Hexa Structures is a BC Studies prototype project designed to accommodate urban nomads that builds upon the company’s experience with an “urban spaceship” it constructed in Brussels, Belgium in 2012. Hexa Structures’ modular design allows them to evolve from singular to polyvalent structures, which facilitates co-design, flexibility, and adaptability on site and on time.
The structures use steel Lahyer scaffolding as load-carrying structural members, wooden pallets as load-carrying infill, and wooden or aluminum plates as a cover. The vertical load-carrying component “standard” is used horizontally, and the horizontal load-carrying component “ledger” is connected to the standard’s connection ring “rosette” at a 60-degree angle to create a stable hexagonal structure. They can be assembled and disassembled in short periods of time and leave no waste after being deconstructed.
The temporary Hexa Structures can be used as infrastructure for an event stage, exhibition space, urban bar, public space reappropriation tool, or camping shelter.
They can be used legally in public spaces since they are not conventional buildings and do not have any lasting impact on the area where they were constructed after they have been deconstructed.
YES WE CAMP! was an experimental and alternative camping event held from May to October, 2013 on the docks of l’Estaque in Marseille, France. The event included activities such as cultural events and festivals. The project was crowd-funded by local residents, as well as international supporters. Travelers came from around the world to camp out in Marseille for the event.