Japan’s Teahouses… I Mean Treehouses

Have you ever dreamed of sipping tea among the clouds, not on a jet plane, but rather in a simple enclosure that is perhaps not the best place to be on a windy day?

In the tradition of the Teahouse of the August Moon, Japanese architect, Terunobu Fujimori, has designed a tea-house on a family owned plot of land that is precariously perched upon the trunks of two chestnut trees.

Unusual tree-top architecture is popular in Japan where tea masters have traditionally maintained total control over the building of their tea houses.

The focus has always been on simplicity, and Takasugi (which literally means a teahouse built too high), lives up to that standard. Very small and compact, Fujimori’s teahouse can accommodate about 29 square feet and the building is “like an extension of one’s body, or a piece of clothing,” according to Fujimori.

For its creator, this treetop teahouse is not about the art of tea-making at all. It concerns just how far he can push the concept (or envelope, if you will) on the limits of a traditional teahouse, which he considers the “ultimate personal architecture.”

In order to enter the teahouse, guests must climb a ladder, which leans against one of the trees. Half-way up the ladder, they must then remove their shoes and leave them on the platform.

Plaster and bamboo comprise the Spartan interior of the teahouse and three windows frame the views of the surrounding picturesque valley and birth place of the architect.

Talk about a bird’s eye view!

(Link)

By MDeeDubroff on 15-05-2009