While at first glance some projects could be written off at pure formalism, each project is anchored by a genuine consideration of the internal inhabitable environment. The spatial complexity, particularly in the residential projects, results in a new way of living. Based on their ideas surrounding the evolution of generational subdivided land in Japan, the project House Tower exemplifies this. Taking a 42.29sqm site and supplying a family home with a total floor area of 65.28sqm, while simultaneously only creating a building footprint of 18.44sqm takes skill. It takes even greater skill to produce such a building with genuine moments of spatial delight and generosity. Living spaces flow into each other vertically and create subtly elegant volumes that articulate the program over the split-levels. The idea appears in concrete and glass, distilled to the point where form represents programme, the history of the city and the social processes that have led to this type of housing being necessary. The finishing of the project is of the usual high standard, but it is the reconsideration of the high density housing typology that is particularly interesting.
Kaijima explained how this vertically works effectively in her own house. “In my case for House for Atelier Bow Wow, now we have a 12m difference from bottom to top. This kind of house is very interesting. I try to give connectivity, but the personal experience is more 1 corner, 1 corner, 1 corner. That means you feel a not so strong contact. You feel someone is there, but not so disturbing. The vertical is a very interesting connection.”
The practice manages to convey their concern with the occupant through their drawings by adding a perspectival projection to plans and sections. These drawings show the occupants sleeping, eating and generally living in the space. These drawings are not simply ink sketches that show a stylised image of the volume. These are highly detailed construction drawings that also take on the duty of communicating texture, light and other tactile issues that are scarcely seen within a CAD drawing. Another key feature of these drawings is that they show an understanding of context in relation to the client. Atelier Bow-Wow’s architecture is not an imagining of an idealistic living environment littered with magazine cutouts. They are concerned with producing a direct response to client needs that doesn’t rely on placing a neutral ‘flexible’ gallery backdrop. Why should the occupant have to buy new furniture?
To facilitate the successful delivery of such spaces Bow-Wow conduct discussions with their clients about their previous spatial experiences. What their previous homes have been like, what they enjoyed and didn’t enjoy about their workspaces. These discussions lead to consideration of how the spaces effect behaviour of the occupants, resulting in a reevaluation of the way in which people conduct their lives. One interesting thing about the work that Atelier Bow-Wow produces is that its quality is not linked to its context or scale. There is also no defined aesthetic style to tell the viewer that the project has come from Bow-Wow. Instead, a way of working is present in the body of work that defines the uniqueness of their clients.
“Every client is looking for something
different. That’s why our design is very
different for each project. We always try to find new things in the local area. We use a methodology of research but always adapt and change. The object is the same but the approach is different.”
When asked whether or not Bow-Wow gets to choose its clients the answer is “basically we don’t choose. We give a kind of condition because we need time or budget etc. If project doesn’t fit the conditions then it’s very simple, we don’t do it.” It seems that the notoriety that generates a perpetual work cycle has reached a critical mass. Kaijima does point out that most of their clients are architecturally knowledgeable prior to contacting them. They are also often from creative fields themselves and as such are not strangers to the creative process. This awareness allows the pair to start one step ahead as it were. Which in turn allows them to push the client and their brief further with the time and budget provided. It also means that these clients have made a distinct and educated decision to engage a practice like Bow-Wow for their project, and as such are expecting an challenging response.
Atelier Bow-Wow is a practice that is based on discussion. On the idea that what is around us is worth interrogating and that architecture can be both a lens for viewing the society in which we live, as also a mechanism for changing that society. “I like to talk to people through the architecture issue. Maybe the subject could be another issue but we always try to look for the relationship to architecture and the society or culture. Architecture is always helping me to understand what is happening in a different city or society.”