Adhocism meaning an Idea of Improvisation

‘Adhocism’ ideas were coined in the book Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation by architect, theoretician, and former designer Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver (1972). They considered how designers could take immediate action. This was achieved by using readily available components in ways not envisioned in their original designs.

Adhocism Design Sample Collection

Adhocism has existed for as long as anybody can remember. (Think Robinson Crusoe, who built a raft and a shelter to escape his ship’s wreckage.) Adhocism as a design approach begins with simple improvisations, such as using a bottle as a candleholder, a dictionary as a doorstop, or a tractor seat on wheels as a dining room chair. But it’s also an underdeveloped force in practically every activity we engage in. These include play, architecture, city planning, and political change.

Adhocism Meaning

In interior design and architecture, designers use “found” materials or materials on hand or nearby. Ad hoc design, which initially meant “for a particular place or purpose,” means “picked up casually.” There has been a surge of ad hoc design as part of experimental efforts. These efforts are seeking directions beyond the aesthetic of Modernism. Houses constructed of driftwood, recycled cans or bottles, or combinations thereof, are typical examples. Interiors furnished with used cable reels, casks and kegs, hammocks, and similar items also illustrate the ad hoc design approach. In everyday terms, ad hoc committees show how improvised, temporary solutions can be effective when fixed structures are impractical.

“Everything can always be something else.”
Charles Jencks

Drop City and the Counter Culture Movement

In the 1960s, counterculture groups in the US explored some of those concepts, including Drop City. They had built dome dwellings from car roofs obtained cheaply from scrapyards. These were used for reusing materials discarded by consumer society. Change, mobility, and immediate obsolescence are the foundations of adhocism. When adhocists discover their ship is breaking up around them, they transform it into a raft. The building’s motto is “Everything can always be something else.”

The Whole Earth Catalog of 1968, an encyclopedia of new forms of life and providers of means of doing so, had some promising implications for this future.

Case Study: Manhattan Ad Hoc Housewares

A frequently cited commercial example of ad hocism in practice appears in a 1982 article in The San Francisco Examiner, which described the founding of Manhattan Ad Hoc Housewares in New York as “the art of working with the best.” Established by Judy Auchincloss and Julia McFarlane, both with backgrounds in design-related fields, the shop emerged in response to what the founders perceived as a market dominated by overdesigned, expensive, and often impractical domestic goods. Rather than producing new designs, they selected robust objects originally intended for industrial, institutional, and professional use—such as stainless-steel carts, wire shelving, laboratory glassware containers, photographers’ lights, and utilitarian storage systems—and repositioned them for domestic interiors. This strategy reflected the core principle of ad hocism: the use of the most appropriate materials and tools already available, prioritising function, durability, and adaptability over stylistic novelty. As reported at the time, the shop’s success was closely tied to broader social conditions, including rising inflation, reduced living space, and increased demand for practical organisation in urban homes, demonstrating how ad hocism could operate as both a design attitude and a viable commercial practice.

In one word ‘adhocism’ – The art of working with the best 7 Apr 1982 The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) Newspapers.com

Sources

The MIT Press. (n.d.). Adhocism, Expanded And Updated Edition. The MIT Press. Available on Amazon

Chorpash, R. (2013). AD HOC/RE HOC: HOW CRAFTING INTERIM SOLUTIONS CREATES BETTER DESIGN. In IDSA 2013 Education Symposium.

Gray, C. (2020). The Repairer and the Ad Hocist: Understanding the ‘ongoingness’ of the amateur theatre maker’s craft. Performance Research, 25(1), 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2020.1747268

Honolulu Star-Advertiser. (4 October 1973). In defense of Adhocism. Newspapers.com. Retrieved 29 December 2025, from https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-in-defense-of-a/187658417/

Martin, C. (2016). ‘Everything can always be something else’: Adhocism and J.G.Ballard’s Concrete Island. Literary Geographies, 2(1), 79-95. https://www.literarygeographies.net/index.php/LitGeogs/article/view/37

The San Francisco Examiner. (7 April 1982). In one word ‘adhocism’ – The art of working with the best. Newspapers.com. Retrieved 29 December 2025, from https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-in-one-word/187658654/

Tuck, A. P. (2017). Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation by Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver. Common Knowledge, 23(1), 109-109.

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, December 16). Drop City. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:58, December 28, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Drop_City&oldid=1327806004

Woodham, J. M. (2006). A dictionary of modern design. Oxford University Press. Available on Amazon

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