Atelier Bow-Wow
Tsukamoto travelled to Paris to be a guest student at L’Ecole d’Architecture de Belleville (UP 8) from 1987–88 and in 1994 he completed a Doctor of Engineering program at Tokyo Institute of Technology.
[3] Atelier Bow-Wow documented these micro buildings in detail through photographs, elevations, maps, 3D sketches, and brief descriptions in their publications “Pet Architecture Guide Book” and “Made in Tokyo.
The study of a building's articulation, inherent properties of elements such as heat, wind, light, water and the understanding of individual and common human behaviour leads to a stronger localized architecture.
[12] Hence, these tend to disregard the need to express "good taste" or to "work with nostalgia" (pre-conditioned meanings, categories or looks), resulting in a "hybrid, junky architecture"[12] that is regarded by some critics and practitioners as "disgusting" or "shameless".
[14] Constructed in the most practical manner with the possible elements on site, “Da-me” often utilizes "spatial by-products" or whatever is at hand, like under concrete engineering structures, rooftops or gaps between buildings etc.
[14] An example would be the highway departmental store as mentioned in "Made in Tokyo" (a guidebook by Atelier Bow-Wow, further described below) which both belong in different categories, and have no relation in use, but exist in the same location because the traffic above and the shopping below share the same structure.
Such an existence seems an antithesis of aesthetics, history, classification and planning, but it is interesting and refreshing as the architecture is simply a physical functional construct that has arrived at this point through a desperation in attempts to respond to the here and now and not anything else.
[22] Through text and photographs Behaviorology covers the majority of Atelier Bow-Wow's work up to 2010 including built projects, temporary exhibitions, art installations, architectural-furniture hybrids, and their research on architecture and urbanism.
The book opens with an introductory statement by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto which gives his explanation of Atelier Bow Wow's concept of ‘behaviorology’ including their hypothesis that behavior could be central to the understanding of the links between human life, nature, and the built environment.
The bright yellow cover makes an immediate statement, echoing the impact the text has created by providing alternative methods for understanding the urban nature of Tokyo.
[32] "In Japan, throughout the period of high economic growth that followed the wartime defeat, then the bubble economy and its subsequent collapse, many detached houses have been built as works of architecture, and I acknowledge their collective cultural value.
Atelier Bow Wow assimilate themselves to anatomists, or botanists, whose skills in producing illustrations are so intricate and in a sense almost scientific that their work could not be regarded as “artworks”, since their techniques are so restricted, and any individual strand of creativity is suppressed in the process.
This almost mechanical depiction of architecture allows buildings to be liberated from the conventional subjectivity of its authors, and in turn presented in the “earnestness of observation.” [35] A similar presentation style had been used in previous Atelier Bow Wow publications, such as “Pet Architecture” and “Made in Tokyo”, but in “Graphic Anatomy” their skills have been used to induce a new sense of spatial depth in house illustration, whilst simultaneously attempting to catalogue 24 previous house designs by Atelier Bow-Wow.
The use of vertical and horizontal perspectives, together with magnified construction details allows for a new way of observing architecture not only as an object, but within that single frame consisting of many spatial compositions, between rooms and components, between interiors and their adjacent exterior environments, between actions and locations, and ultimately between humans and the spaces they inhabit.
Since the architects decided to integrate features of the traditional minka farmhouses, they were able to create a new typology for the mixed agricultural and urban land that is found at the fringes of Japanese cities.
Additionally by using this traditional building style the architects were able to blend this expressive and open-to-the-street house with the adjacent pitched roof residences covered with metal siding or stucco.
The minka style shows in the high peaked roof that serves as a substitute of a chimney, covered porch, the large fluid interior space and timber construction.
Thus the steeply peaked roof allowed the rain and snow to fall straight off it, preventing water from getting into the home The Nora House is part of the Pet Architecture, a term created by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima, the founder Of Atelier Bow-Wow.
Since it is defined by using curious shapes and inventive solutions for drainage, windows and air conditioning, they highlight their unique location, produce a relaxed atmosphere and therefore help to relieve the occupant.
It occupies a total floor area of 6,031.64 m2 with the design developed by principal architects Masakazu Suzuki and Momoyo Kaijima in cooperation with Atelier Bow-wow[40] and centralises the experience of the Green Culture Zone and the functions for exchanging and providing information.
[39] Located in Shinagawa-ku district of Tokyo, the House Tower, setting back from the street and rising over 11 metres in height, occupies only an 18.5m2 building area of its constrained 42m2 site.
With its unique ‘tallness’ and seemingly irrational openings, this re-enforced concrete building somehow resembles a ‘one-eyed monster’, hiding awkwardly in the neighbourhood, sneaking around behind obviously ‘shorter’ counterparts, as if trying to find a chance to escape.
The furniture and fixtures are carefully aligned to the areas at the rear, leaving the other side “clear, flexible and without built-in installations.”[42] Despite the apparent ‘individuality’ of the building, the oversized front window “resonates with the scale of the cityscape outside”,[43] while having a conversation with an adjacent neighbour's arched roof.
Atelier bow-wow's design objective for this house was “to ensure the maximum capacity that can be placed on the site, while discovering new behaviours within density and within a state of vertical expansion.
“We created slit-levels to lower the vertical intervals between floors and to shorten each stairway.”[46] Built in 2004 in Karuizawa-cho, Nagan, the Black Dog House, is a domestic residence which can be seen as fairly conventional as compared to some of their other projects.
Surrounded by buildings and connected by a narrow strip of land to the road [51] House and Atelier Bow-Wow ‘pushes the capacity of the micro plot’[52] investing in ‘the broader order of the urban environment.’[53] Sensitivity to available gap spaces saw placement of openings towards adjacent houses, positioning ‘interior space as a part of its surroundings: a room coexisting with its next-door neighbour’s exterior wall.’ Functioning as a semi-public building, Bow-Wow sought to ease the divide between living and work, ‘transposing activities.’[53] ‘Avoidance of heavy partition walls softens even further the distinction between surroundings and interior and, within this between house and office.’ [53] Entered through a narrow passageway occupants emerge within a ‘four-storey interior that is effectively a single volume, with the four principal floor decks arranged on the half level, and generous interstitial landings sitting between.’ [52] Occupants first encounter the atelier space which is spread over the upper and lower ground levels.
[57] 2001-2003 The unconventional “Gae House”, set in Setagaya Tokyo, is amongst homes that line up like hedgerows that attest to the division of properties from land inheritance and the remnants of garden fences that once surrounded the whole block.
Gae House embraces the intent of the surrounding homes with the use of the largest possible roof formed according to sun and site restrictions,[58] while the walls are set back from the boundaries.
[62] The design draws on Atelier Bow-Wow's theories of Void Metabolism and The Fourth-Generation House which puts an emphasis on the form and nature of the spaces between buildings as well as their internal qualities.
For example, on the east façade facing the road the projecting volume sits above the ground creating a space to park a car underneath and stairs running along the southern edge allow access.
