The function of scaffolding is generally pragmatic and it has a compensational relationship to buildings / monuments. But unlike buildings and monuments, which only become what they are when they are built – scaffolding refers to both the unbuilt components and built structures. This lack of distinction reinforces the idea that scaffolds play a temporary, secondary, and supportive role. And yet, scaffolding is also indispensable: we rely on temporary structures to keep the built environment operational. The diploma suggests that this reliance makes scaffolding worthy of architectural investigation. Scaffolding’s relevance in most types of building transformation becomes a way to explore problems of preservation – whether for heritage, sustainability, or other reasons. Through examining the existing relationships between scaffolding and the built environment, the diploma hopes to present alternative and new uses of scaffolding in order to show how architecture might address and anticipate present and future issues of maintenance.