Co-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements

Co-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements was a national pavilion exhibit at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition in 2021, curated by Kozo Kadowaki. An old wooden house was taken apart into its individual pieces, shipped abroad and rebuilt in a new configuration, with modern materials added: scaffolding pipe, mesh and blue tarpaulin.

A team of five architects worked with artisans and researchers, and left room for improvisation on site as part of the exhibition.

The project takes aim at mass consumption, made worse by how cheaply and quickly goods can now be moved. By shipping a post-war house that had outlived its use and showing its parts in a new setting, the exhibit gives ordinary old materials a second life. It turns movement for consumption into movement for reconstruction, and asks how architecture might be sustained and approached differently.

Inside the pavilion, timbers, doors and fittings from the house were laid out like an inventory. Outside, in the garden beneath it, the pieces were put back together as new structures for sitting, gathering and shade.