| | Made in Tokyo and Pet Architecture Guide Book by Atelier Bow-Wow and others.
These two books present alternative
guides to the built form of Tokyo, different than the typical
architecture guides that survey single buildings by known
architects. Respectively Made in Tokyo and Pet
Architecture look at the non-designed yet functional
hybrids of the city's current situation and the tiny structures
that fill the gaps in the city's fabric. A good example
of the former is the highway department store, two floors
of retail stretching 500 meters below the expressway in
the Ginza district; while a good example of the latter is
Coffee Saloon Kimoto, a triangular structure with a capacity
of four customers. Each book exhibits a fondness for Tokyo's
seemingly chaotic urban fabric, though the authors resist
the label of chaos for the city they love. Instead they
see these types of buildings as unique to Tokyo, a product
of its economics, village fabric and people, perhaps chaotic
as a whole, but not when viewed in the framework of these
two books. While not your typical guidebooks, they give
the reader a new understanding of Tokyo that helps enrich
the experience of the city.
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