Tokyo (SCCIJ) – The Japanese architect Momoyo Kaijima who is teaching at Switzerland’s most prestigious university, together with her colleague and partner Professor Yoshiharu Tsukamoto of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, received this year’s Wolf Prize in Architecture for their ethnographically inspired approach to architecture.
Momoyo Kaijima has held the position of Professor of Architectural Behaviorology at ETH Zurich since 2017 (© ETH Zurich).
Behavior of architecture
Ms. Kaijima, Professor of Architectural Behaviorology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) since 2017, is the first Japanese and only the third woman to win the prize. According to the jury, the work produced by their studio Atelier Bow-Wow is characterized by a great sensitivity towards local contexts and the social impact of architecture.
The jury described her as an architect who appears to move effortlessly between research, education, and practical design. Her theoretical studies, exhibitions, urban interventions, and the buildings she designs together with partner Tsukamoto lend more weight to the vision of a social, responsible, and sustainable form of architecture.
Inspiration from Tokyo
Kaijima and Tsukamoto’s architectural style is strongly influenced by their engagement with their native city of Tokyo. In 2001, they published the highly acclaimed works “Made in Tokyo” and “Pet Architecture”. They describe the city beyond the skyscrapers and shiny new structures. They focus on small houses and anonymous buildings that otherwise receive little if any architectural recognition, despite being typical of Tokyo.
Kaijima studied architecture at Japan Women’s University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. She won one of her first competitions together with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto while she was still studying for her Master’s degree. The pair then went on to found Atelier Bow-Wow in 1992. Bow-Wow is a playful allusion to how different countries describe the sound of a dog’s bark. “It was important to us that we as people blend into the background. And we thought the name was funny,” Kaijima recalls.
Teaching in Switzerland
Following several visiting professorships, including at Harvard University, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and Columbia University, Kaijima joined ETH Zurich in 2017, where she set up the Chair of Architectural Behaviorology. Even in her teaching, she remains faithful to her ethnographic approach, exploring topics such as the varied use of windows or the future of learning spaces together with her students.
The Wolf Prize has been awarded to outstanding scientists and artists every year since 1978. Previous laureates in the architecture category include greats such as Frank O. Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Peter Eisenman, and David Chipperfield.
Text: SCCIJ based on © ETH Zurich News / Christoph Elhardt
