The Tea House

In a city of ruins, this tea house acts as a spiritual retreat for the wandering traveler. This tea house integrates the ritual of a tea ceremony with the process of contemplation. As the guest enters the tea house, the feeling of compression heightens human consciousness and creates sensations of intimacy and solitude. The tranquility of this building transcends the traveler from the complex distractions of the city to the quiet enlightenment within themselves. The tea rooms look into the main water courtyard and has integrated light tunnels in the walls that reflect light off the water and into the space. As visitors descend into the meditation space below, they walk around a waterfall that flows from the main level into the lower level. Within the meditation space, the sound and light from the waterfall invites guests to contemplate their inner thoughts. As the guests finish meditating and are ready to leave, they follow a curved hallway into a double height space, feeling purified and rejuvenated for the rest of the day.