A Small Tea House, in the Woods, in North Central Florida

The traditional Japanese tea ceremony brings to fruition a delicate composition of earth, water, and fire. The Tea Room offers itself as a vessel for this ceremony, and as a space that is completed when it occurs. The writings of Kakuzo Okakura, “The Book of Tea,” in conjunction with analytical and spatial studies of the Butia Capitata (Jelly Palm) served as the drivers for the intervention. Nestled within the longleaf Flatwoods reserve, the design becomes a reiteration of the traditional “Tea Room.”

The site negotiates a dichotomous organization of old and new. The longleaf Flatwoods reserve is a fire dependent ecosystem. There is a dialogue between older trees, and vast zones of new transplanted trees. As such, the particular placement of the intervention along one of these spatial seams allows for the mediation between these two very different experiences within the site. The in-between space can be sculpted into a garden path, a series of more ephemeral interstitial zones that help to mediate between scales of exchange along this seam. Smaller scale trees and vegetation begin to closely reference the human body, while also establishing an in-between scale. This also helps to build up natural, loose edges that help capture the space and texture of the site.

The promenade throughout the site is organized in anticipation of the tea ceremony. It is constructed as a series of experiences that are both loose and rigid. Staying true to ancient traditions, the path is exonerated above the destination. The space between the waiting room and Tea Room allow for opportunities to exist between the site and construct. The semblance of site begins to creep into the construct, simultaneously existing within.

The intervention is articulated as a delicate framework layered with assemblies of striated and opaque surfaces. The plant studies helped to inform the tectonic articulation of the project, offering ideas on surface, textures, and space making.