PROJECT DESCRIPTION

ATELIER BOW-WOW

Founded in 1992 in Tokyo by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (*Kanagawa, 1965) and Momoyo Kaijima (*Tokyo, 1969)

Atelier Bow-Wow ranks among the most successful architectural practices in Japan. Its portfolio

encompasses countless artistic and architectural installations, in addition to over forty micro-family residences

and four public buildings. Urban research projects such as Made In Tokyo (1998), Pet Architecture (2001) and

Dead or Alive (2009) are an equally vital aspect of its work, providing the theoretical scaffolding, so to speak,

for its built metropolitan ventures.

Atelier Bow-Wow is part of a generation of architects drawn to reflect on Japan's traditional planning and

social strengths as part of a radical rethink of design practice following the collapse of the country's bubble

economy in the early 1990s. For Made In Tokyo (1998) and Pet Architecture (2001) Kaijima and Tsukamoto

analysed Tokyo's flexible, anonymous (micro) architectures: residential solutions built on narrow or

supposedly unviable lots or as an unlikely extension to existing structures, which represented a rapid

response to shifting circumstances in a densely populated metropolis and served as a vital interface between

people's need for shelter and for social integration. Atelier Bow-Wow identified the micro-house as a fitting

architectural typology for modern times, and developed it in innovative ways as a linchpin feature of its own

design practice. It thus promoted an understanding of architecture as an active subject engaged in constant

dialogue with its users and its environment, and as a process that mirrors in its various metamorphoses the

infinite complexity of social environments.

ATELIER BOW-WOW: A PRIMER - JAPANESE EDITION

ATELIER BOW-WOW: A PRIMER - ZÜRICH, ETH

Catalogue ed. by Laurent Stalder, Cornelia Escher, Megumi Komura & Meruro Washida.

With photographic prints by Lena Amuat.

Zürich 2013

249 Pages

Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König 2013

ISBN 978-3-86335-302-5

With an exhibition and the launch of a comprehensive monograph focusing on the theoretical achievements

of Atelier Bow-Wow, the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) at the Architecture

Department of the ETH Zurich has paid tribute to the pioneering Japanese practice. The exhibition and

monograph were produced in close collaboration with Atelier Bow-Wow.

Whereas the exhibition that was held at ETH Zurich from February to April 2011 revolved around Atelier Bow-

Wow's built projects the monograph, which was published as an exhibition catalogue to complement the

exhibition, is devoted primarily to Bow-Wow's theoretical achievements. It focuses on urban research projects

such as Made In Tokyo (2001) or dead or alive (2009), theoretical writings such as Post-Bubble City (2006) or

Echo of Space/ Space of Echo (2009), architectural monographs such as Graphic Anatomy (2007) and, not

least, on the documentation of research – Asia Flux Managment (2005), for instance – undertaken in the

course of Tsukamoto's and Kaijima's teaching practice. The concepts developed by Bow-Wow in the course

of these many research projects and available until now only in fragmented form are compiled here and

presented for the first time as a comprehensive critical Atelier Bow-Wow lexicon. Thus, the existing

monograph is highly valuable for the cultural exchange between Switzerland and Japan, not the least as

theoretical material for education and research.

This project is meant to make the work of the aspiring, theoretically focused Japanese architects

available in Japanese, the language of Bow-Wow’s country of origin. The translated version of the book

will meet the market demand in different Japanese sectors. In particular, architects, architectural

scholars and students, and publishers are requesting a Japanese edition. Since the book has potential as

valuable teaching material at Japanese universities and institutes, we are dependent on sponsorship in

order to enable the Japanese edition to appear to an affordable price on the Japanese market.

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder, project leader, born in 1970, has been Professor (from 2011) and an Assistant

Professor (2006-2011) for Architectural Theory at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta),

in the Architecture Department at the ETH Zurich. From 2002 to 2005 he was Assistant Professor in the

History Department at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. His research and publishing focus is 19th and 20th

century architectural and cultural history.

Atelier Bow-Wow was founded in 1992 in Tokyo by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (*Kanagawa, 1965) and Momoyo

Kaijima (*Tokyo, 1969).

Momoyo Kaijima has been Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba since 2009. From 2000 to 2007

she was Assistant Professor at the University of Tsukuba, Visiting Faculty member of Harvard GSD and Guest

Professor of the ETH Zurich.

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, has been Associate Professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology since 2000. From

2003 to 2008 he was Visiting Faculty member of Harvard GSD and Visiting Associate Professor at UCLA.

Cornel Windl in, born in 1964, is a Swiss graphic designer & art director based in Berlin. His studio has

been producing work for many prestigious clients in both cultural and commercial fields, and his

groundbreaking work brought him international recognition early on in his career. In 1997, he received the

Jan Tschichold Prize for book design and later was named one of the most influential personalities in design

(ID40, 2004). In 2007 he received the Grand Prix Design of the Swiss Federal Arts Council, and in 2011 the

Grand Prix at the Brno Biennal. He was a guest professor at ECAL/Lausanne in 1996-98, has widely lectured in

Europe and abroad. His work has been exhibited internationally.

Kaj ima Inst i tute Publ ishing , established in 1963 in Tokyo, is the Japanese most reputable publisher

specializing in architecture, civil engineering and art. On the mission, “to contribute to the cultural

development by publishing activities”, Kajima Institute Publishing has published over 3,000 titles of the

foremost architects, including Le Corbusier, Christopher Alexander, and Reyner Banham as well as Japanese

architects such as Arata Isozaki, Fumihiko Maki and Kazuo Shinohara.

SD (Space Design), the journal launched in 1965, enjoys an international reputation as a leading journal of

architecture and design in Japan. SD Books (SD sen-sho), one of the prominent series of writings, such as

essays, studies and critical appraisal of architects and architecture, has more than 260 titles and is widely read

not only by professional but also by general readers. Publishing the considerable works of Le Corbusier is a

renowned project of Kajima Publishing. Japanese copy of Vers Une Architecture, for instance, is sold more

than 16,000 copies, and the distinguished authors like Frank Lloyd Wright, Colin Rowe, Aldo Rossi, Kevin

Rynch, Robert Venturi, and Jane Jacobs are also published on this series.

Kajima Publishing Company produced Made in Tokyo by Atelier Bow-Wow who gained fame for this book.

The book has become a long-time seller still purchased by foreign architects from all over the world.

CONTACT

Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder, Professor for Architectural Theory

professur.stalder@gta.arch.ethz.ch

ETH Zurich

Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta)

Architecture Department

HIL F 64.1

Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5

CH-8093 Zurich

Tel: + 41 44 633 62 72

Fax: + 41 44 633 18 82

http://www.gta.arch.ethz.ch/d/stalder