Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen has teamed up with London’s Royal Academy of Arts to broadcast this year’s annual architecture lecture by Atelier Bow-Wow founders Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima.

In the lecture, which is titled Architectural Behaviorology, the Japanese architects discussed the architectural impact of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 and 2021 and how it has affected their own practice.

The duo also explained their approach to architecture – how they try to create a continuous loop between research, teaching and their own design work – before discussing how they have increasingly shifted their attention to rural areas of Japan.

Projects featured in the talk include Atelier Bow-Wow‘s work over a number of years in Momonoura, a small fishing village that was devastated by the Tsunami in 2011.

Kaijima explained how they worked with the villagers to create new accommodation made from local materials to attract new residents and visitors to the area.

Tsukamoto presented projects including the studio’s Tanada Terrace Office pavilion, a concept for a rural office that Atelier Bow-Wow built with Muji in an area of Japanese farmland dominated by terraced rice fields.

The concept intended to suggest a new typology of building that could provide a space for city workers to visit the countryside in order to encourage better integration and interaction between urban and rural communities.

Tsukamoto and Kaijima founded Atelier Bow-Wow in 1992 and have devoted their practice to investigating the material, social and economic conditions of architecture.

In 2019, the duo told Dezeen how the Tokyo 2020 Olympics had reduced the opportunities for smaller practices in the city.

Tsukamoto and Kaijima’s lecture, which they gave in July remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, is the 30th annual architecture lecture organised by the Royal Academy of Arts. Dezeen has collaborated with the RA to make the talk available for people to watch for free for the first time.

Previous annual architecture lectures have been given by architects including Jean-Philippe Vassal, Grafton Architects, Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi and Amateur Architecture Studio. The five most recent talks are available to watch on Dezeen here.

Dezeen x Royal Academy of Arts annual architecture lectures

This article is part of a media partnership between Dezeen and the Royal Academy of Arts. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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