Lakeside Teahouse, Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China, project: Domain Architects
Lakeside Teahouse, is a poetic architecture
that combines respect for local tradition and culture with contemporary
elements. Signed by Shanghai firm Domain
Architects, founded by Xu Xiaomeng, the
project locates in front of a hill, with a distance of a hundred meters from
lake shore.Two houses dating from the 1930s with small courtyards (aka
"sky well") were to be connected and transformed into a teahouse and
also a rest space for tourists. The operator of the property has not been
decided until now.
The timber-frame structures still
remain intact except for the roof of one small volume. To preserve local
memories, we decided to keep the old houses and touch them as gently as
possible. At the same time, we wanted to create an unprecedented experience
with juxtaposition of tradition and contemporariness. The scenic area was
famous as a great example of traditional Chinese literati aesthetics. In
traditional Chinese landscape paintings, corridors and bridges often became the
focal points. They were not only passage ways but also resting places. We connected the two old houses
with a curved, elevated bridge-corridor. Starting from a small volume without
roof and stopping next to the old wall, the bridge-corridor barely touches the
existing houses. Walking along the corridor, guests will experience the
shifting views of the landscape, as if they are reading and unfolding a long
scroll painting.
The lake side of the corridor is fully glazed while the hill side is protected by an irregular array of steel posts and PC tubes (clear and frosted), providing natural ventilation and filtering sunlight into a fascinating effect. The irregularity of the PC tubes completely breaks the rhythm of load-bearing steel posts. The structure design strategy did not focus on expressing the long expansion, but producing a variety of supporting forms, from staircases and side-support of a gable wall, to local stone and “7”-shaped concrete structure.
The informal, non-sequential
design leads to a much more casual and relaxed atmosphere. To maximize the view
of the lake, the section of the bridge-corridor was designed as a single-sided
cantilever. Controlling the overall deformation to achieve structural rigidity
had become the major structural issue.
The ground between the two houses had been eroded by a seasonal creek. Conveniently, we transformed it into a shallow pond. The path and platform by the water, the stone-slab bridge, the old houses and new corridor, the bamboos, and the existing trees, form enchanting special relationships on a very limited site, evoking the charm of traditional Chinese gardens.
Project Name: Lakeside Teahouse; Completion Year: 2023, Gross Built Area: 245㎡; Project: Domain Architects; Lead Architects: Xu Xiaomeng; Design Team: Xu Xiaomeng, Hannah Wang; Structural Design: AND Office; Photo credits: Zhang Chao
