bowellism

B3O1W4E1L1L1I1S1M3

noun

high tech architecture; a style of architecture that places pipes, ducts and other mechanical utilities outside the building to maximise interior space.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

nounbowellism (uncountable)

alternative bowelism

  1. dateduncountablearchitecturehigh tech architecture; a style of architecture that places pipes, ducts and other mechanical utilities outside the building to maximise interior space.

    Bowellism, is the strangest of the three (fig 15). It never, in fact, reached the stage of a built building, at least not in its ultimate style.

    1970, Peter Cook, Experimental Architecture
    2 more examples

    Over and above the continuous discussion concerning architectural education the contents of the magazines reflect the changing preoccupations of students from the establishment of the Modern Movement in the thirties through post-war reconstruction, bowellism and expendable architecture to today's Left-wing activism.

    1971, Architectural Association (Great Britain), AAQ. Architectural Association Quarterly

    The list begins with mechanical delight and bowellism/new brutalist sensibilities. This category includes Norman Foster's Lloyds of London building, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers's Centre Pompidou, Craig Kauffman's Sensual Mechanicals[…]

    2016 November 11, Bob Sheil, Frédéric Migayrou, Luke Pearson, Laura Allen, Drawing Futures: Speculations in Contemporary Drawing for Art and Architecture, UCL Press, →ISBN, page 109

Origin

From bowel + -ism, from the resemblance of exposed ducts to bowels.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bowellism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bowellism

MLA

“bowellism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bowellism. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bowellism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bowellism.

Source: bowellism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.