Atelier Bow-wow SmAll CASe Study HouSe January 31 ... - Redcat

Atelier
Bow-wow
SmAll
CASe Study
HouSe
January 31–March 29, 2009
This exhibition is made possible by a generous grant from the Graham Foundation
for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Additional support provided by The Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Nimoy Foundation, Japan Foundation and
The George and MaryLou Boone Fund for Artistic Advancement.
Free gallery admission underwritten by generous support from Ovation TV.
The Standard is the official hotel of REDCAT.
631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, California 90012 USA
Visit www.redcat.org or
call +1 213 237 2800 for more information
Gallery Hours: noon-6pm or intermission, closed Mondays
Always free
BBQ
HAMMOCk
SUNSET

SmAll
CASe
Study
HouSe
During their residency in Los Angeles,
Atelier Bow-Wow visited ten Case
Study Houses with a class of architecture
students from UCLA. They were
as interested in the transformations
of the houses over the years as the
original designs. The architects and
students listened to the owners talk
about what it is like to live in these
modernist icons and how they have
altered and customized their homes.
Many houses had undergone expansion
in order to fit contemporary
lifestyles into a container designed
for post-World War II living. In their
research, they were struck by this
desire for more space. The architects
jokingly confess that the bigness of
American houses frightens Japanese
people unconsciously. They wondered
if larger homes encouraged consumer
behavior or if consumer behavior
encouraged larger homes. Smallness
became a provocation to question this
tendency and, in the process, shift our
thinking and behavior.
Bow-Wow’s proposal for REDCAT
focuses on small scale and small case
(a specific activity). It is a parallel
application of the framework of
the Japanese teahouse, which was
designed for a single activity in a
very modest scale. The tea ceremony
is not necessary but is essential to
a certain way of living. During their
residency, Atelier Bow-Wow identified
elements or activities they felt were
important to Southern California
living and designed three conceptual
houses: hammock house, BBQ house
and sunset house. All three constructions
are made with reclaimed timber,
making these structures part of a
cycle in which material and site are
in flux.
Atelier
Bow-wow
was established by Yoshiharu
Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima in
1992. Tsukamoto (b.1965, Kanagawa)
graduated from the Tokyo Institute
of Technology where he is currently
an associate professor and has also
taught at Harvard Graduate School
of Design and UCLA. Kaijima (b.1969,
Tokyo) graduated from Japan
Women’s University. She is currently
assistant professor at University
of Tsukuba and has taught at ETH
in Zurich and Harvard Graduate
School of Design. In addition to
numerous building projects, Atelier
Bow-Wow has participated in the
2008 Liverpool Biennial, 2008 Venice
Architecture Biennale, 2007 Sâo
Paulo Bienal, 2006 Busan Biennale,
Echigo Tsumaari Art Triennale in
2003, 50th Venice Biennale (2003)
and the 2002 Gwangju and Shanghai
Biennales. Their work has also been
included in group exhibitions at The
Hayward Gallery, Walker Art Center,
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo City Opera
Gallery, and the New National
Museum in Berlin.
HAMMOCk HOUSE is dedicated to gravity. It is a house without a floor.
Two hammocks hang from a naked roof truss and require two persons of roughly
equal weight to sleep together on opposite ends. Individual dreams are realized with
cooperation of others, in balance together.
BBQ HOUSE is dedicated to energy. The house takes the shape of a stadium
to concentrate thermal energy from open fires and human beings. It is an
enlargement of the container of the BBQ grill into a small-scaled stadium that
swallows the behavior of people while they cook and eat together.
TILT Of THE EARTH 23.4°
SUNSET HOUSE is dedicated to a phenomenon produced by two spherical,
celestial bodies: the sun and the earth. It takes a spherical form with a concave
interior that catches the human body with horizontal rays, densifying orange beams
and the warmth of sunsets.