Atelier Bow-Wow: A Primer

The Tokyo-based architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow, founded in 1992 by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima, is among the most admired architecture practices of today. Part of a whole generation of Japanese firms that seized the recession of the early 1990s as an opportunity to develop a new design practice in response to changed planning and social conditions, Atelier Bow-Wow is well known for its domestic and cultural architecture, as well as its research exploring micro-architecture. The firm’s first studies focused on anonymous Tokyo buildings and highlighted the ways in which they met the requirements of residents and visitors. Additionally, founders Tsukamoto and Kaijima devised a particular type of residential building for Tokyo—a small-scale house that offers an ideal solution to the restrictions of the densely populated megacity. This publication unifies Atelier Bow-Wow’s architectural and theoretical work.