BACK | ATELIER BOW-WOW (Tokyo)

Atelier Bow-wow
For Building Asia Brick by Brick Photo by Hiroko Matsubara

STATEMENT

House without oku (depth) Oku is a deep inside, or a back of behind. Normally, in the Japanese architecture of residential space, an inner space is recessed and not connected to circulation, and an outer space is exterior and open to connections. However, the house without oku inverts the correlation between interior and exterior using two nested boxes and tubes that connect both inner and outer boxes. One enters the inner box first through a tube, and then progresses "deeper" into the outer box. With the outer box connected to the outside through openings, the definite oku does not exist.

ABOUT ATELIER BOW-WOW

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima founded Tokyo-based firm Atelier Bow-Wow in 1992. The pair's interests range from urban research to architectural design and public art. Their research is epitomized by the publications Pet Architecture Guidebook and Made in Tokyo. The practice has designed over 20 detached houses such as Gae House and House & Atelier Bow-Wow. Recent projects such as Hanamidori Cultural Centre mark an expansion towards a larger scale. They have exhibited artwork at major international biennials. Monographs include Bow-Wow from Post Bubble City (2006) and the catalog Graphic Anatomy-Atelier Bow-Wow (2007), for their second solo exhibition, held in Tokyo.