Asymptote, NY-based architects, built HydraPier, an exhibition pavilion at the Harlemmermeer: A two-winged structure sits on an artificial lake created on land reclaimed from the sea.

We live in an era that puts little stock in stability. Solidity and permanence read as rigidity and torpor. The future will be only more unruly, tossed and pulled by disparate forces like a piece of bread among sea gulls. So where does this leave architects, whose work is all…