When Yoshi Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima of the Tokyo-based firm Atelier
Bow-Wow arrived at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design as
guest professors, in the winter of 2016, they challenged students to
deeply consider their surroundings and record their reactions as a large
pencil drawing. In this "public drawing" time is suspended and expanded;
futures, presents, and pasts converge; and the act of drawing becomes an
instrument of dialogue and engagement.
Tsukamoto and Kaijima later spoke about the project with K. Michael
Hays, Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory at Harvard's
Graduate School of Design, and reflected on representation, occupation,
and the democracy of architecture. They unfolded their concept of an
"ecology of livelihood," wherein shadowless figures, objects, and spaces
coexist with construction details. Explaining their belief in the
"behavioral capacities" of humans, architecture, and nature, Tsukamoto
and Kaijima revealed the generosity of spirit in their work, and the
importance of pushing such capacities to their most yielding limits.
The Incidents is a series of publications based on events that occured
at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design between 1936 and
tomorrow.
Edited by Jennifer Sigler and Leah Whitman-Salkin
Copublished with the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
