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VOL.6
Apartment Tea Room: What is a tea room in a limited space?
2024 / 10 / 13
Recently, we have been receiving many requests for tea rooms from people living in apartments.
Generally, modern apartments do not have Japanese-style rooms, and the so-called 2LDK, consisting of two private rooms and a living/dining/kitchen area, is the norm.
Even in such circumstances, people who are interested in tea ceremony have come up with creative solutions, such as laying tatami mats in the living room and holding tea ceremony lessons.
Although they are not requesting a full-fledged tea room, they would like at least a relaxing Japanese-style room.
In the case of condominiums, partition walls are not tangled in the structure and can be easily removed, but the structural columns and beams cannot be removed, which poses an obstacle to the design.
In particular, the beam structure is large and the ceiling height is difficult. However, if you take advantage of this and use your imagination to create an interesting tea room, such as an irregular 8 tatami mat room, 4.5 tatami mat room, or even a design with a dropped ceiling, it's also a chance to show off your skills as a tea room architect.
An eight-tatami tea room in a two-bedroom apartment
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The most recent tea room we designed was for a client who wanted an 8-tatami room for lessons.
Teachers who are considering using a tea room as a practice space will need an 8-tatami room.
This time, since the entrance hall was spacious, we extended the tea room into the corridor and made it possible to remove part of the tatami floor in the event of an emergency.
In addition, since the water closet does not have a water supply or drainage system, we have made it possible to place a drainage bucket under the floor, based on the idea of a free-standing water closet.
In a tea room, storing utensils is also important, so the tatami mats can be lifted to allow for storage under the floor, and as much of the wall space as possible is used for storage.
Furthermore, since the basic requirement of a tea room is that it can host tea ceremonies, the living room is used as a waiting area, and the tea room is designed with a path to the seats via the balcony, passing through part of the mizuya, which is reminiscent of an open-air garden.
In the future, it may be possible to create a basin or a fully-fledged outdoor area on the balcony.
He designs tea rooms based on the theme of innovation and tradition .
The key points in designing a teahouse are "materials" and "pathway." What materials should it be made from, and how will the host and guests move around? By keeping these two points in mind when designing, a highly refined teahouse can be created.
Limited budgets and space require ingenuity and ideas. It would be impossible to fit a typical tea room directly into an apartment, so the basic requirement is that tea ceremonies can be held and the flow of people can be smooth. The more stringent the conditions, the more a one-of-a-kind tea room filled with ideas can be created.
I believe that even for those who do not practice the tea ceremony, a tea room can be a valuable space that brings comfort and tranquility to modern lifestyles, and I design tea rooms every day with tradition and innovation as my theme.
Tsubaki's side project
SIDE PROJECT
Cape Copanello on the toes of the Italian peninsula.
Here, the Gatti family runs a farm that grows olives in their natural state without using any pesticides or fertilizers. Introducing the rare olive oil that is made by squeezing the early picked olives of this rare Gatti family at low temperature.
Tthe "Hokuso" area has been blessed with the abundant water of Kasumigaura and the Tone River since ancient times.
Rice has been cultivated since the Edo period, and in the olden days, rice was supplied to Edo via the Tone River.
We are reclaiming fallow fields in this area and working to regenerate delicious rice and paddy fields.
The delicious rice grown in the Hokuso region has brought a lot of wealth to the region. The homes of rice farmers in the area are also very valuable from an architectural point of view.
Unfortunately, the Hokuso area is also experiencing population outflow and aging, and as a result, these high-value buildings are also being devastated.
We regenerate these old folk houses with our knowledge and know-how as an architect and provide them as accommodation facilities.