The solid body drawing below shows the outer shell and steel trusses from which the tea house will be "hanging". The large opening in the front is not an entrance but rather a set of double doors that can be opened during good weather and for use of the tea-house as a stage, to put on concerts.
The transparent drawing below shows some of the inner structure that will hold the building together. It is essentially two steel frames, for the roof and the floor, held together by a series of steel rods. The structure was built in Henry Kawa's machine shop in such a way that it can be disassembled and carried to the installation site.
The end view reveals that, the tea-house will not strictly be hanging from the steel beams, but in fact has a very small base at the center. However, the rods tying the roof to the beams is essential because this small foundation could not really support the structure, particularly in high winds. More about the engineering testing later. The base will also house coils for the heat pump.
The top view shows the location of the foundation at the center and some of the internal roof structure.
The front view gives a better idea of the relative sizes of the beams and the tea-house itself. The roof design consists of a diamond shape, which is inverted in the ceiling.
These are some of the basic ideas of the design. From this point much work was needed to complete the details, along with structural analysis. And of course the big issue would be the price, and getting a contract signed. We had no idea how hard this last issue would be.
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