Reed Pavilion
Design-build teahouse pavilion in Hikone, Japan
Spring/Summer 2019
Located on the East side of Lake Biwa in the city of Hikone, Japan, this project was designed over the course of a semester at Meiji University. Developed with studio partner Kayou Tei, this teahouse pavilion is a contemporary take on a traditional teahouse. Utilizing local lake reeds harvested nearby, the pavilion was designed as a temporary structure built on the University of Shiga’s campus. Tea has and continues to be a crucial component of Japanese identity, history and culture. This pavilion is an attempt to reinterpret components of a structured craft while harnessing environmental and spatial qualities associated with traditional Japanese teahouses.
Originally designed to host two entrances based on traditional tea houses which have separate entrances for the guest and host, the design changed with time to fit the flow of movement along the pathway on campus while still enabling a sense of procession, connection to nature, change in scale, and visibility to the outside world. Built over the course of 3 days, a base structure was laid out using grasshopper and rhino which was then filled in to create density.
My contribution to this project covered design and computer modeling of the form, building scale models with my partner, designing the structure in Grasshopper/Rhino, creating rendered sections and elevations and working with my classmates in the physical building of the full scale pavilion.
Team: Kayou Tei, Dana Iskarova, Frances Lai, Tree Chen and Yushi Chen
Professor: Hiromasa Shirai
Initial Proposal:
Step 1: Source Material and Cut to Workable Size
Step 2: Secure Elements for Structural Base Using Zip-Ties
Step 3: Combine Structural Components and Fill with Additional Reeds to Create Shape
Structure and Reciprocal Form
Initial 2-part Structure
Structure diagram indicating inner box framing and additional reed pieces used to fill void.
The initial design was composed of two separate structures, an inner shell to host the seating space and an outer shell to create the paths. After deliberating the design and consistency in building the physical structure, we decided to revert to a single form structure with only on path in and out of the space.
The Build:
The building process took 3.5 days with 6-10 people helping each day. Using a radial grid system, measurement points from the 3D model were extracted and referenced to create the physical form.
Studio members and volunteers from University of Shiga