Why Modern?

We ultimately decided not to build a traditional Japanese tea house. There are a number of reasons for this. These include the need to fit in with the surrounding suburban American architecture, and our desire to create something new and different.

Modern architecture is the best way to achieve this goal. There is significant overlap with traditional Japanese design, including simplicity, spareness, and a connection with nature. There are also a number of recent examples of architects who have combined the two. For example, Shigeru Uchida's tea houses:


These give the impression of openness and transparency, while still maintaining the feeling of enclosure. The glow that they give off in the dark also ads to their attractiveness as a landscape feature.

Another unusual and creative space is Toyo Ito's 2003 Serpentine Pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery in London. This space, with its random solid and glass panels, is well connected to the exterior and has ample natural lighting:


Finally, we draw inspiration from the Farnsworth house of Mies Van der Rohe:



The simplicity and elegance of this design shares much in common with traditional Japanese architecture, though it is done using glass and steel rather than wood, bamboo and stone.

With these ideas, we set out to find an architect to help us build our tea house.

Origins

Where did we get the idea to build a tea house? In 2002 we traveled to China, spending most of the time in Shanghai. But we did take a trip to the historical city of Hangzhou and spent two days there. Hangzhou is famous for its lake, and the tea grown in the misty hills just outside the city. Around the like there are many tea houses, which contribute to the slow pace and relaxed atmosphere of the city. In fact, the residents of Hangzhou rise much later than in Shanghai, which is bustling well before 6 a.m. everyday of the week.

The tea houses are casual, and one can order tea for a couple of dollars. It includes as many refills of hot water that the leaves can take, and numerous tea house snacks like dried fruits and preserved eggs. Customers generally stay for hours and play cards or mahjong. This lifestyle has a real attractive quality that we wanted to take home with us.






In Japan the tea house (third picture) has a completely different quality. It is generally a very formal place, and usually much smaller than the Chinese version. It also gives the sensation of calmness, or time standing still. I think this is achieved through the connection with nature, because they are generally in the middle of a formal garden, and cannot really be closed off to their surroundings.










In fact, the traditional Japanese home (last picture) really captures some qualities of both the Chinese and Japanese tea houses. They have the functionality of the former and the simplicity and connection to nature of the latter. This is probably the closest to what we hope to achieve.