Tea House by Shigeru Ban

The Tea It's one of my favorite soft drinks ever. Today if someone wants to enjoy a cup of tea can do at home thanks to the many qualities easily found on sale, however there are different cultures that make a real ceremony.

The Chinese use “tea houses” to socialize, stay togheter, converse, doing business, play mahjong. Think of the Japanese who build houses or rooms where there is the complicated cha no yu (tea ceremony), remained unchanged for centuries where every smallest movement is repeated till you drop until it reaches perfection. Or at least what according to the zen philosophy It defines the’lighting.

You can well imagine that if the ceremony, for the Japanese, charge so high philosophical meanings, the room must have equal importance and accuracy in the design.

Dell ’ aesthetic ideals are uncontested masters of zen design and so it is not hard to find small areas, very simple without furniture and wooden walls, tatami floors and simple crockery iron or ceramic. In such an environment all materials play a key role.

The famous Japanese architect Shigeru Ban in 2008 played in a small zen corner for the cha no yu for internal use. I know that the project is a little dated but I find it interesting to tell this idea. The real news is that the room is made entirely in cardboard.

The architect had already worked in the past for a similar project realizing extraordinary temporary housing for the populations of countries affected by natural disasters (Turkey, India, Japan). Even in that case the carton was the favourite material for the reduced cost of course, the ease of transport.

The structure of the room is created with cardboard tubes square section stacked together to create walls. It's also interesting idea, just for using a material so poor.

On the other hand, as you'd expect, the room cannot be used outdoors due to perishability of cardboard. Anyway the room size 5 meters and is equipped with table and four stools also made with cardboard bar, the roof is realized in folded paper, also is equipped with a small wait room with a small bench in compliance with the ancient traditions of preparation of matcha (Green tea).