Space-age cubes, rooftop pods, giant caravan cities and garden sheds you can practically live in ... Steve Rose chronicles the rise of portable architecture.

Ever since Le Corbusier and the Italian futurists salivated over biplanes, steam trains, ocean liners and automobiles in the early 20th century, architecture has been in awe of moving machines. But, as much as the modernist pioneers eulogised these dynamic inventions, they never dared disobey the sacred rule that says buildings stay where they're built. Architecture is architecture. Unleash it from its static condition and you're in some hazy no- man's-land between the disciplines of building, product and vehicle design. Yet this nebulous zone is becoming an intriguing place to visit.