Pet architecture
Different architecture design in different cities are reflecting their cultural, history, value system and their current circumstances. There are a interesting fact, Tokyo’s total urban area and population are 2188km² and 13.7 million respectively while Sydney’s urban area and population are 12,368 km² and just 5 million. What a big difference in population density. That is the main reason of cross categorial hybrid buildings and pet architecture are easily found in Tokyo as the dramatically expand of urban sprawl and resulting the increased of space demand for the different architecture, so there is ‘void phobia’ in Tokyo stated by Kaijima, Kuroda and Tsukamoto (2001, p.26)
Atelier Bow-wow is an architecture firm based in Tokyo and founded by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima in 1992 mainly exploring the urban condition of micro. So, what is ‘Pet architecture’? It is talking about some small or micro buildings tightly squeezed into left-over urban spaces:
If decent buildings standing in decent spaces were to be considered “human beings,” small buildings standing with all their might in odd spaces would seem to be like pets in urban spaces due to the sense of distance form human beings and the sense of presence in scenery. (Tsukamoto 2002 p. 9)
They also think that these kind of buildings are fun and playful, the small sizes and narrow spaces of building giving a unfavourable condition inside but illustrating special ideas. When people interact with those buildings, the users enchanced the fuctionality of those buildings just like human playing with pets, so it named as pet architecture:
Its maybe because their presence produce a relaxed atmosphere and make us feel relieved. Pet, companion animals of the people, are usually small, humorous and charming. We find what we call “pet architecture”, architecture having pet like characteristics. (Tsukamoto, 2002 p.1)
People want to use the spaces as much as they can, so all pet buildings are actually customised to fit in different situation. Automatic scaling to filling the space, the buildings are connected tightly. They have different and curious shapes like narrow triangular and rectangular. There are 4 common types where the ‘pet buildings’ appear (figure 1), expanding the road, the narrow gap between the buildings, the geometry among the road, river and railroad, the buildings are close to the road.
After exploration of the public area near UTS, I found that was difficult to find some pet like buildings around Sydney as I have said at the beginning here is too big and low population density compare with Tokyo. Also, the definition of Pet architecture here may not be the same with Tokyo. The buildings here are mostly large and similar size even a grocery store is lager than that in Tokyo. The buildings which similar with pet characteristics here are usually restaurants. Although sydney is not possess the same style of pet architecture but I can still finding the narrow spaces to create my own pet buildings by using the ideology. The buildings in the Guide Book are drew in axonometric form with clear lines but not much about the interior but because these are my own design, so i try to show the contour and the interior more clearly and use a little man to show the scale of the buildings which same with them.
The first space I found is the back of the UTS Insearch blue building(figure 2). I think that the cafes around the buildings are closed so early, as I am a design student, so many assignment cannot finish so early but if I live here, I cannot find s place to buy fresh coffee. This little cafe(figure 3) can open till late only for Insearch students as the space is narrow, resources like electricity can use less. It’s keeping with high interest in practical issues. This design is based on the Coffee Saloon Kimoto (figure 5).
The second space is found in Iglu student accommodation in Regent Street (figure 5) . This space is enough for a little bakery shop(figure 6) as the students live in here can easily to buy the breakfast before they go to school and this design is based on the Matsuya Rice Shop(figure 7).
The third space is a alley found at Kensington street (figure 8). This is the most common shape shown in the pet architecture guide book. The whole street is cafe, restaurant and bars. Because the limitation of the space, it can only build up a casual meal or snack shop(figure 9). I decided to build a French fries shop as I found that here is nearly no snack shop around .
The last space I found is the space between the Concrete Jungle cafe and Iglu student accommodation at Kensington street(figure 10). Building a little art book store(figure 11) is a best choice between a cafe and a student accommodation. As it is hard to find aq art book store here. Atelier Bow-Wow has defined that the pet architecture is fun, so I tried to create a special shape for this building. It built like a book which match the application.
Although the pet architecture is not focus on architectural aesthetic, They are da-me architecture which mean no-good architecture not like the QVB or opera in Sydney. Their buildings built cheaply and the conditions are unfavourable.Even they are weird in shape and have many limitation but those buildings can explain what Tokyo is and how people interact with those buildings. We should look everything flatly, The pet buildings maybe is not good looking but they are actually highly functional buildings. The differences between Sydney and Tokyo are the buildings are high in cultural interest but Tokyo’s is high in practical interest and it is a hyper-condense environment. After this research, I recongnised that architecture is not just about beauty, we also need to consider about the functionality and the reason of creating those building, design is not just for good looking but also can solve the problems like Tokyo having a astonish population density.
References:
Atelier Bow-wow. 2002, Aoyama real estate agent, Archinect, viewed 20 April 2018, <https://archinect.com/features/article/56468/atelier-bow-wow-tokyo-anatomy>.
Atelier Bow-wow. 2002, Pet Architecture Typology, Word Press, viewed 20 April 2018, <https://remap.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/infrastructure-interstice/>.
Atelier Bow-wow. 2002, Coffee Saloon Kimono, West Space Journal, viewed 21 April 2018, <http://www.westspacejournal.org.au/article/atelier-bow-wow/>.
Atelier Bow-wow. 2002, Matsuya Rice Shop, Pet Architecture Guide Book: Living Spheres, Volume 2, 1st edition, World Photo Press, Japan
Kajima, M., Kuroda, K. & Tsukamoto, Y. 2001, Made In Tokyo, 1st edition, Kaijima Institute Publishing Co, Japan.
Kajima, M., Tsukamoto, Y. & Tokyo Institute of Technology Tsukamoto. 2002, Pet Architecture Guide Book: Living Spheres, Volume 2, 1st edition, World Photo Press, Japan