Atelier Bow-Wow Builds First US House – for a Hollywood Director | Home Design Find
RSS

Home Design Find

No Comments »

Atelier Bow-Wow Builds First US House – for a Hollywood Director

atelier bow wow 5 green
The first house in the US by Japan’s husband-and-wife team Atelier Bow-Wow is on a site that is virtually limitless.

It has the opposite of their usual site constraints: the pair have earned a reputation over the past decade for designing intelligent but extremely compact houses in cramped left-over urban spaces in Japan’s crowded cities.
atelier bow wow green

The very unpretentious and green vacation home has a viewing deck on top, that is completely open on all sides, per the request of the client, a Los Angeles film director.
atelier bow wow 2 green
Originally, this top deck was designed as an enclosed meditation room. But the client wanted it to be simple. A half-constructed space has a sense of possibilities.
atelier bow wow 3 green

A simple rustic retreat can be very grounding. The house of a nearby builder and carpenter inspired many of the rough-sawn wood and no-frills, custom finishing. Rooms are lit by basic bulbs hanging from cords. While there is a green hydronic heating system, it is set in a straightforward unfinished concrete floor.

In Japan, this use of local needs-based building techniques has typified the work of Atelier Bow-Wow. Their refreshingly cost-effective straightforward style, even though it is sometimes decried as “shameless” or “tasteless” is simply a  functional construct that has arrived at this point in response to the here and now and not anything else.
atelier bow wow 4 green
Recycled sinks and bathtubs were cleaned up and used. The client had selected Atelier Bow-Wow precisely because he did not want anything too fancy. “I didn’t want anything too sharp or sleek, as if a UFO landed on the hill” he says. “Instead of a beautiful spaceship, I wanted a tugboat.”

Via Architectural Record

You can receive our articles for free in your email inbox or subscribe to our RSS feed. Just enter your email below for the email subscription:

| Buy | Print

Leave a Comment