ProjectdescriptionThe Kawanishicamping cottage is a lodging residence located in Nigata in japan. This projectincorporates the unusual location in its design to create a space thatprimarily focuses on the nature that surrounds it. Between the spectacularviews seen out the large windows and the stepped kitchen reflecting the slopeof the land, this house is truly one of a kind. TheArchitectKawanishiCamping Cottage b was designed by Atelier Bow Wow.
Atelier Bow Wow is a Tokyobased architectural firm founded in the year 1992. The firm was co founded byYo Shiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kajima . Tsukamotowas born in Kanagawa,Japan in 1965 and is a graduate of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Sincefounding Atelier Bow Wow he has been a guest lecturer at various prestigiouscolleges such as Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Architecture School(2011-2012), Barcelona Institute of Architecture (2011), RiceUniversity (2014) and Kyoto Seika University (2012). (Wow, 200)Kajima was born in Tokyo,Japan in 1969.
She originally graduated from Japan’s Women’s University.Similar to her co-founder, she has acted as a guest professor in variouscollages across the globe, including but not limited toUniversity of Tsukuba (2002), University of Tsukuba(2009) and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Architecture School (2011-2012). Later, Yoichi Tamai joinedthe firm in 2004 and has been there ever since.
Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1977,Tamai became a partner at Atelier Bow Wow in 2015. He is a graduate of TokyoInstitute of Technology with masters in engineering. (Wow, 200)Atelier Bow Wow focuses onthe exploration of urban micro architecture and is also commonly known for itscultural and domestic architecture. When it comes to exploringurban micro architecture in various cities, Tsukamoto has said, “. We go there fewmonths before the exhibition and observe the behavior of the city and people.
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Then we design something based on this observation. I think it works well. Forexample, in the Shanghai Biennale we designed Furnicycle (2002). This is basedon the observation of customizing bicycles and furniture in public space.” Bowwow take the location oftheir project and carefully incorporate it into each oftheir designs. They are very concerened with space and how to truly utilase itto the best of their abilities. looking at the inhabitants of the space, BowWow can see what makes a public space, “he quality of public space is up to thepeoples’ participation. If all the participants are just a customer it is not areal public space.
For example, in a shopping mall there are many peoplegathering and talking. It looks like public space, but they are just customers.They are all guests” (White, 2007)Atelier Bow Wow have come with various theories that theyincorporate into their practice. For example, Pet Architecture is a term thefirm uses to describe a building being squeezed into a small urban space. As aresult these buildings tend to be designed with curious shapes, windows andventilation systems.(Gert, 2004)Behaviorology is another theory created by Atelier of BowWow. This is the “understanding of of the complex relationship between people,the building and natural elements.” It goes further than the idea that “formfollows function” it bases form on the behavior of those people, building andelements.
Da- Me architecture (no good architecture) is a term coinedby Atelier Bow Wow to describe architectural design that is so determined tofit the site and function that there is no real attention to the visualaesthetic. Bow Wow have described these buildings as being “stubbornly honest”.The client, brief requirements, aspirations In 1998, it was proposed by Kawanishi citycouncil to rebuild an existing campsite for a brand new international Open AirArt Festival. Architects and artists from all over Japan would be invitedto design paths through the chosen forest and equip them with park benches,viewpoints and bungalow huts that would allow campers to spend thenight. The Kawanishi camping cottage B was one of the first realizedprojects on the forest site. The architects, engineers and builders only had amonth from the first sketch to the building permit.
Therefore, the studywas preceded by possible volumes of land selection.(Verlag GmbH, 2010) Historical, cultural context and influencesThe Kawanishi Camping Cottage was clearlyinfluenced by the ‘butterfly plan’ or ‘the double suntrap plan’. It wascommonly found in late Victorian Architecture and in the early arts and craftsmovements. Large houses in England took on this design in the early 1900’s.
However, it was not limited to the UK as examples of this plan can be seen madeby architects such as Bruce Price in the USA. The Butterfly plan is the idea of two or more wings being designed andbuilt at an angle to the core. An example of the butterfly plan can be seen in Home Place, Kelling, Norfolk, by Edward Schroeder Prior (1903–4). As years went on, architectural designers becamemore experimental, playing with more daring angles and more wings.
In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we can see how thebutterfly plan revolutionized. The Amsterdam school style of architectureincorporated the butterfly plan, as can be seen by Michel de Klerk’s Spaarndammerplantsoen (1914-1920). (Plan of Spaarmdammerplansteon)De Klerk designed onesingle plan with a V shape ground plan.
The four story building is seen to have2 wings separated as they come out from the core, a very small acute anglebetween them.In the Kawanishi Camping cottage, there are 3different wings all set out at different angles to the centre, allowing eachsection to have its own function while still remaining as an open space.Atelier Bow Wow’s cottage adapts an asymmetricradial arm plan.
What makes this take on the butterfly plan interesting is thateach wing is a different size and set at a different level.The upper ground floor is for sleepingaccommodation, north wing at intermediate level is for washing and bathing,kitchen steps down with the terrain below and is terminated by an entrance deckthat also serves as a balcony. SiteThe Kawanishi camping cottage is located in Kawanishi, Nakauonuma-gun, Niigata Prefecture. Kawanishi islocated in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo on the Sea of ??Japan. The camping forest is an extremely uneven terrain withwildlife, forestery and lakes. The camping cottage sits in the crests of a hillabove a lake.
It is surrounded by deciduous trees and is already a ready madenatural camping place. (Pople, 2003)As a result of the geographical position of the 16430sqm site, thegeneral area will often experience frequent earthquakes and tremors. Naturally,this can cause potential problems for a narrow section building on stilts suchas this one. However, while the building may be narrow, the plan gives thecottage a lateral satiability that secures its structure in challengingconditions. (Pople, 2003)In the winter Kawanishi may often experience snowthat can reach a depth of 4 metres or 13 ft. Therefore, the decision was madeby Atelier Bow Wow to raise the house on timber stilts and have a series ofnarrow sections with a steep pitched roof.
The stilts also meant it was easierfor the designers to work with the terrain and give the structure morestability.(Wow, 1999)InnovationThe kawanishi camping cottage has quite anunusual design. The interior of the three narrow sections are all set atslightly different heights. While the section standing on the sloped terrainhas an obvious dip, there is one step that brings you up to the sleepingcorridor, the largest section. The choice of site is interesting, as they choseto work on both relatively flat ground, but also a steep slope. The all black interior is an innovative design.
Naturally, the main focus of the cottages design is to look out on thebeautiful surroundings. The large open windows allow this, but the all blackinterior forces your eye to look out of them. This unusual tool surprisinglydoes not make the cottage a dark, depressing space, but a bright, reflectiveone.Material and technologyThe structure is timber framed timber posts areplaced along the perimeter. As the principal structure is timber, it ispossibly susceptible to greater damage when the building is exposed to water orfire. The camping cottage has a horizontal, external boardingsurrounding the entire structure that acts as a rain screen. It also has aninternal screen of ply wood which is stained black in order to highlight theviews out.
The cottage is standing on timber stilts, lifting the structure offthe ground.(Wow, 1999,Pople, 2003) Spatial analysis Theinterior of the cottage is a dark, enclosed space. The black plywood couldcause causes the space to feel even narrower than the structure already is.
However, the windows are shuttered and staggered on either side of externalwalls on either wing. This clever device draws all attention to the multipleand complex views of the trees and of the lake. These picturesque views are themain focus of the occupiers. The rest of the inside walls are practically bareand kept free of clutter. (Pople, 2003)The kitchen wing is the smallest of the three.
Inthe kitchen there is a single, brightly coloured, island unit that also acts asa fixed dining table space that can seats up to eight people. Apart from thewashing area, there are no rooms as such in the camping cottage. It is openplan, the camping cottage is a continual space split up only by the variouslevels and directions of the wings. (Pople, 2003) ReferencesGERT, E. 2004.
Bright Green: Pet Architecture.POPLE,N. 2003. Small Houses, Laurence KingPublishing.
VERLAGGMBH, K. 2010. Kawanishi camping cottage Online.arch +. Available: http://www.
archplus.net/home/archiv/artikel/46,318,1,0.htmlAccessed 21/01/2018.WHITE,M. 2007.
Atelier Bow-Wow: Tokyo Anatomy Online.Archintect. Available:https://archinect.
com/features/article/56468/atelier-bow-wow-tokyo-anatomyAccessed 26/0/208.WOW,A. B. Kawanishi Camping Cottage.
WOW,A. B. 200. Biography Online.Available: http://www.
bow-wow.jp/profile/biography_e.html.WOW, A.
B. 1999. KawanishiCamping cottages Online.
Available: http://www.bow-wow.jp/profile/1999/kawanishi/index.htmlAccessed 21/01/20198.Images https://www.periodliving.co.uk/content/uploads/2013/12/0214voewood-house.jpghttp://yuki8154.c.blog.so-net.ne.jp/_images/blog/_079/yuki8154/Dsc02146.jpghttps://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d8/bf/88/d8bf889523d43b6cdac46b9f11e1d6fd.jpghttps://www.detail.de/fileadmin/_migrated/pics/kawanishi_cottage.jpghttps://www.japlusu.com/sites/default/files/styles/slideshow/public/JA00015249_89372_atari.jpghttp://backnumber.japan-architect.co.jp/japanese/2maga/ja/ja0039/work/074/img/004.jpg
