To offer guests a relaxed experience of the tea ceremony, Shio Architect Design Office conceived a restaurant using the space in a skillful way, creating a traditional tea house that can be transformed depending on needs. Located in Tokyo, Sokkon restaurant allows people to discover tea culture through a combination of western-style seating and tatami, a typical Japanese mat.

Sliding doors, pillars and a cedar wood floor define three “tatami rooms”, where it is possible to kneel on the floor according to tradition or to sit at the table: the movement of tatami surfaces at different levels establishes flexible, dynamic environments, always transformable, where mats become western-style tables under which to place legs. 

A sliding door conceals a bartender’s station turning the tea room into a bar with four seats on the floor.