Bow-Wow examines the behaviors of buildings

2/12/11 12:07 PM

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Bow-Wow examines the

behaviors of buildings
11.02.2011 02:56, Author: Guest Writer

Architecture duo Bow-Wows idea of behaviorology can be seen in doll-house

sized models of some of their unique buildings
For Tokyo-based atelier BowWow, creating a house has
something to do with behavior.
Architecture can potentially
synthesize different elements
including the behavior of human
beings, the behavior of natural
elements (light, air and wind,
heat) and the behavior of
buildings into the physical
entity of one building.
Designing the house is [a way]
to find a better framework that
lets these elements human,
nature, building behave in
their preferable, delightful way,
Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, one of the
two partners in Bow-Wow told
Czech Position.
In House Behaviorology, BowWows exhibition at the Jaroslav
Fragner Gallery, viewers can
observe the frame these
behaviors took in remarkably
detailed, 1:20 models of 19 of the
ateliers realized houses.
House Behaviorology is the
collection of houses designed
within this concept of
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Bow-Wow examines the behaviors of buildings

2/12/11 12:07 PM

behaviorology], Tsukamoto
said. And [the exhibition is]
also trying to discover the shared
aspect in these houses.
Behaviorology is the study of
behavior. According to BowWow, in the case of architecture
it is the attempt to synthesize
different behaviors into the
physical entity of one building.

Bow-Wow

Bow-Wow was established in

over 20 houses, public museums and commercial buildings

Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima, both Tokyo Institute of Technology grads, have together built

1992. Aside from Tsukamoto, the

duo includes Momoyo Kaijima, a fellow graduate of the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
They have built over 20 houses, public museums and commercial buildings mainly in
Tokyo, but also in Europe and the United States. Their portfolio includes urban research
and public artworks as well.
Their original inventions include the Furnicycle, which is part bicycle and part
furniture, based on their observations of day-to-day life on the streets of Shanghai; and
White Limousine Yatai, an elongated version of the normally small yatai, or mobile
restaurant. The latter is an attempt to raise the rank of this low-status restaurant while
simultaneously bringing people together as this 10-meter-long restaurant requires more
than the yatais usual one set of hands.
Atlas helped put them on the map

It was two of their numerous publications, however, that put them on the map. They
got very famous when their atlases of the species of Tokyo architecture, were published
Bow-Wow
Bokutei (Tokyo, 2008) makes
maximim use of a small plot in
the citys dense fabric

in 2001 under the titles of Made in Tokyo and Pet Architecture Guide Book, architect
Osamu Okamura told Czech Position. He is also editor-in-chief of architecture magazine
Era 21 and is scheduled to give two lectures during the House Behaviorology exhibition.
The books were the result of Bow-Wows urban

exploration of Tokyo. The first book examines hybrid buildings in the city. The second
looks at Tokyos tiniest buildings, which have been squeezed into the citys leftover urban
spaces.
Several houses included in the exhibit have particularly small measurements, as theyve
been built into the dense fabric of Bow-Wows home city, where available land is hard to
come by and very expensive.
Gae House, which has a floor plan measuring 88.42 square meters, is characterized by
its box-shaped body and slanted roof on one side. Both were created under certain

Bow-Wow
Nora House (2003 Sendia,
Japan) spreads out over nine
levels

height and footprint regulations, which created a gap space in between them. To cover
the space, Bow-Wow built a horizontal window, which creates a diffused light in the upper floors interior.

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Bow-Wow examines the behaviors of buildings

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The behavior with the light is quite extraordinary, Tsukamoto said in a lecture at the Barcelona Institute of Architecture in
2009. [You] feel like you are living with a very special light. You [also] have a view of the garden and there is a small hole for
water to go down.
Among the 13 other models of global urban detached houses included on this first of the
exhibitions two low tables is the Yimby House, a residence and atelier built in
California. The Droog Town House in Amsterdam is constructed as one big staircase.
Bow-Wows own house and atelier integrates public and private space.
The second display table contains villas and cottages in nature. Among them is Double
Chimney, a wood house that was split into to halves to bring more warmth and air into
Bow-Wow
Ikushima Library (Tokyo, 2008)
elegantly blends elements in the
pavilion-like shape

the area. Pony Garden, measuring 71.72 square meters was designed around the clients
request to have a view of her pony throughout the house.
Along with its intriguing behaviorology concept,
the exhibition, which was one of the highlights of

the prestigious Venice Architectural Biennale in 2010, is further enhanced by the

dollhouse-like details of the models and the construction plans, which are displayed on
the gallerys walls.
Their realization plans are drawn to the very details of flower pots, cats, coffee-cups
and slippers under the bed, Okamura said. "There is a good portion of humor in it, too,
as the name of the studio suggests.
Be one with the models

Bow-Wows Tsukamoto encouraged viewers to immerse themselves. Please rapt

Bow-Wow
The Gae House (Tokyo, 2003)
uses horizontal windows create
diffused light that makes the
space feel more open

yourself into the world of the 1/20 scale models and feel the consistency of the treatment
of scale and spatial relationship, Tsukamoto said.
The consistent themes that run throughout the houses are open spaces, both in the interior and exterior; roof-top terraces;
details such as built-in bookcases and perhaps the most notably consistency: a lack of walls, and rather, the use of stairs and
the floors themselves to connect spaces.
The intricacy of Tsukamoto and Kaijimas interiors can be accounted for by the fact that
they do not create primary spaces. Instead, they design interiors with nothing but

Bow-Wow: House

mediatory devices and ancillary spaces, Terunobu Fujimori, architect and architectural

Behaviorology

historian, wrote in Atelier Bow-Wow: Behaviorology, Bow-Wows most recent

Jaroslav Fragner Gallery

publication. In short, their work is not an architecture of spaces, but an architecture of

Betlmsk nm. 5a, Prague 1

relationships.

Through April 3, 2011

Along with the models and drawing plans, an accompanying program supports the
exhibition. Short movies, one about atelier Bow-Wow and the other reflecting on Tokyos
architectural developments (Tokyo Metabolizing, also shown at the 2010 Venice
Biennale), are projected on two walls before the gallerys main space. Upstairs in the
gallery, a media room includes books and a movie on contemporary Japanese

Lectures:
March 9 at 7 p.m.: Osamu
Okamura: Postwar Architecture in
Japan, JFG
March 23 at 7 p.m.: Osamu

Okamura: Contemporary
architecture. Okamura is scheduled two present two lectures in March. The culmination of Alternative Architecture in Japan,
the exhibition is a lecture by Bow-Wows Momoyo Kaijima
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Bow-Wow examines the behaviors of buildings

the exhibition is a lecture by Bow-Wows Momoyo Kaijima

Joann Plockova is a Prague-based freelance writer

2/12/11 12:07 PM

JFG
April 4 at 7 p.m.: Momoyo
Kaijima: Atelier Bow-Wow /
Behaviorology, kino Svtozor

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