In 1992, in the middle of the Japanese recession, the husband-and-wife team Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima founded Atelier Bow-Wow. Like other architects of their generation, they took the social and economic climate as an opportunity to develop a new design practice articulated around a deep and unprejudiced study of existing cultural, economic and environmental conditions. Usually working with modest budgets, they focus on the semiotic meaning of design architectures. The shape of the building is often the most direct formal response to this environment and the designs are pure logical structure. Being well-known for its domestic and cultural architecture, as well as its scientific research exploring micro-architecture, their first studies focused on anonymous Tokyo houses, where the ways in which they met the requirements of residents and visitors whilst also complying with infrastructure and planning regulations was remarkable. Atelier Bow-Wow is also well-known through its Micro Public Space projects and its innovative projects at exhibitions such as the 2010 Venice Biennale and the São Paulo Biennale, among others. Published on the occasion of their recent exhibition at ETH Zurich, this publication unifies Atelier Bow-Wow’s architectural and theoretical work for the first time and lucidly places it within a critical context. Through texts, sketches, plans, images and a photographic essay, the publication offers documentation of all projects from 1994–2012, offering a perfect tool to immerse yourself in their practice. (Juan Canela)