Celebrated architect, ‘architectural behaviorology’ expert to visit Stuckeman

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Department of Architecture at the Stuckeman School in the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture will welcome Momoyo Kaijima, professor and chair of architectural behaviorology at the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETHZ) and co-founder of the Tokyo-based firm Atelier Bow-Wow, for a lecture at 4 p.m. on April 8 in the Stuckeman Family Building Jury Space. The lecture, free and open to the public, will also be livestreamed via Zoom.

The lecture will focus on Kaijima’s architectural behaviorology approach to design, which explores architecture through the lens of ethnography. The methodology seeks to uncover overlooked resources within communities, identifying barriers and deficits while creating strategies to enhance accessibility and activate shared behaviors. By fostering the creation of commons, this approach, according to Kaijima, rejuvenates community livelihoods and reshapes local connections.

Kaijima is also president of NPO Cheer Art. Her work bridges academia, practice and social engagement, redefining how architecture interacts with and revitalizes communities.

Prior to her appointment at ETHZ, Kaijima taught at the Art and Design School of the University of Tsukuba. She served as a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and as a guest professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Rice University, Delft University of Technology, Columbia University and Yale School of Architecture.

Kaijima was named a 2022 Wolf Prize Laureate and was the curator of the Japan Pavillion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 2018.