Modern Tea House | Kengo Kuma and associates

Building with Air Frankfurt am Main / Germany / 2007

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12 Love 14,102 Visits Published
In August 2007, Frankfurt received a new figurehead for its cosmopolitan flair. In the garden of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, Kengo Kuma’ s modern teahouse – constructed by a principle hitherto unknown to the world – was inaugurated. For the design of this architectural sensation, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schneider, director of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, succeeded in engaging Kengo Kuma of Japan, an architect known the world over for his innovations. Kengo Kuma develops the traditional teahouse architecture further, while at the same time venturing onto entirely unexplored territory with regard to his design. In search of flexible buildings - Kuma uses the term “weak architecture” - he has arrived at a truly ephemeral structure with this project. The teahouse does not rise up from the ground as a fixed wooden construction, but unfolds as an airborne form. When a ventilation system is activated, the teahouse swells into shape like a white high-tech textile blossom. In its interior, comprising a surface of approximately twenty square metres, are nine tatami mats, an electric stove for the water kettle, a tokonoma niche and a preparation room. Integrated LED technology allows the use of the teahouse at night; the interior can be heated by way of the membrane. As a setting for the time-honoured Japanese tea ceremony, Kengo Kuma’ s innovative teahouse carries on the dialogue between the traditional and the modern in the context of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, its abundant collections and the architecture by Richard Meier. Thematically, the teahouse takes a worthy and befitting place alongside the current and permanent exhibitions. The Museum für Angewandte Kunst has in its possession a valuable collection of works primarily of the Edo Period. Superb ceramics and masterful woodcuts (ukiyo ye) are as well represented here as precious lacquerware and exquisite examples of sword guards (tsuba), garment accessories (netsuke) and small containers (inroe). The use of the teahouse is to take place on previously announced dates. The architecture serves its purpose only when needed and otherwise remains hidden from view. It is also possible to rent the space for private gatherings. The structure is made from a double layer of 40% light transmitting SEFAR® Architecture TENARA® Fabric. Even with two layers of fabric, plenty of natural daylight filters through the walls. At night, integrated LED lights make the entire structure glow. The ease of joining the Tenara® Fabric with high-frequency radio frequency welding enabled this complex design to be quickly and neatly assembled by Canobbio SPA. Thanks to the fabric's flexibility, the structure can be quickly deflated, folded, moved and reinflated.
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    In August 2007, Frankfurt received a new figurehead for its cosmopolitan flair. In the garden of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, Kengo Kuma’ s modern teahouse – constructed by a principle hitherto unknown to the world – was inaugurated. For the design of this architectural sensation, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schneider, director of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, succeeded in engaging Kengo Kuma of Japan, an architect known the world over for his innovations. Kengo Kuma develops...

    Project details
    • Year 2007
    • Work finished in 2007
    • Status Temporary works
    • Type Bars/Cafés / Temples
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