The 12 most beautiful tea houses

Tea room, chashitsu, cháguăn: tea houses are a centuries-old tradition widely spread from East to West. Domus has selected the 12 projects that best pay homage to the customs and architecture dedicated to the world’s most popular drink. 

Sihan Tea House, AIR Architects

Semi-transparencies and luminous spaces: AIR Architects designed Sihan Tea House, a two-level building conceived for retail and tea ceremony.

Relic Shelter, Neri&Hu

In contemporary China, a precious architectural relic finds an unusual home inside a new building designed to preserve it and to rekindle the bond with the local culture.

Sokkon, Shio Architect Design Office

Shio Architect Design Office conceives Sokkon, a Japanese tea house where movable elements become traditional seats or western-style tables, according to the needs. 

Tea house, Georges Batzios Architect

We can find a little bit of Japan in Athens visiting the Tea House designed by Georges Batzios Architects: an introverted space punctuated by a sequence of wooden framework.

Mother Pearl, A Work of Substance

A Work of Substance collective designed Mother Pearl, a 32 square metre space selling bubble tea and overlooking the street: a city niche defined by pastel colours and a strong material texture.

Tea house, Lin Kaixin Design Co.

The design of the tea house by Lin Kaixin combines symmetrical patterns and architectural gray spaces to present a free, open, natural and humane spiritual space.

Ding Hui Yuan Zen and Tea Chamber, He Wei

The Beijing-based architect He Wei designed a Zen and Tea Chamber, renewing an old factory and conveying the essence of the Chinese private gardens.

Constellation of Stargazing Tea Rooms, Moriyuki Ochiai Architects

In Japan, Moriyuki Ochiai designed a series of capsules in the landscape where the observation of the sky and the ritual of tea come together.

Tea house, Mix Architecture

Mix Architecture has slotted a glass box beneath the roof of an aging stone building to create a contemporary tea house for a fishing village on the edge of Gucheng Lake.

Teabank, Crossboundaries

Amidst tech corporations in Shenzhen Industrial Base, a pentagon shape defies the grid layout of the surrounding towers and simulates a relaxing stroll through tea fields.

Tea house, Archstudio

In balance between the need to preserve the historical and art values and the need to include new features Archstudio intervened in a traditional Hutong district in Beijing to transform it into a tea house with a glass “curvy corridor” that creates a smooth transition from the past to the present.

Beijing Tea House, Kengo Kuma

For the renovation of an ancient tea house in the heart of Beijing, Kengo Kuma chose four types of polyethylene blocks, like a modern version of masonry.

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