Hasta La Ideas

Czech studio A1 Architects covered the walls of this cafe in Prague with a tactile mixture of black plaster, coal and pieces of straw, in a modern take on the clay plasters used inside traditional Japanese tea houses (+ slideshow).

A1 Architects converted a nineteenth-century apartment with vaulted ceilings to create the Tea Mountain cafe, reinforcing the concept of a Japanese tea house by filling the space with charred log columns, each with an illuminated gilt section in its middle.

“We’ve already designed three tea houses and we are very much inspired and fascinated by Japanese architecture and its details,” architect Lenka Kremenova told Dezeen.

“We used even pieces of coal to emphasise the blackness so it feels like you want to touch not just look at the plaster,” she added, referring to the walls. “We always search for a certain kind of quality of materials which could be called ‘touchableness’.”

A gold-plated arch divides the tea house into two halves, creating a light side for service and a dark side for sitting down with a drink.

The first is painted in a shade of pale yellow, and accommodates a serving counter and wooden shelves stacked with tea. The opposite side features dark plastered walls and is filled with tables and stools made from ash wood.

“The seating is in the black part because it is supposed to be a more calm and relaxed place with an ambient atmosphere to enjoy drinking the tea,” Kremenova explained.

A row of globe lights are suspended at different levels above the serving counter, while wooden shelving around the edges of the shop are covered with teapots and other tea-related paraphernalia.

The shop sells a range of tea imported from Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan and China.

Photography is by the architects.

Here’s a project description from A1 Architects:

TEA MOUNTAIN, the teashop
a new concept of drinking tea

The shop called Tea Mountain, recently opened in Prague, brings a new experience how to enjoy the tea, next to contemporary style of serving it is also traditional gustation of high quality tea imported from Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan or China. One of the main issues of a1architects and the owners discussion was how to present the tea in its best to wider audience in a delicate yet friendly manner.

Shop interior

Two worlds, two atmospheres… The seating and drinking happens under the dark vault with its calm appearance and just next to it in bright earthy colours one could buy or watch the presentation of tea. The space of two original 19th century vaults is divided by gold-plated arch line situated almost in the centre of the shop.

The black plaster with added pieces of coal and straw creates an ambient atmosphere and it gets out the customer in his first step into another atmosphere out of the busy street. The following part of the shop is rather light to unable one to focus on details of the tea presentation.

The seating at the table in the black part is accompanied with charred columns with inbuilt gilt cavity which serves as a spot light and brings beautiful warm yellow light on the table. The counter and display shelves are made out of ash wood with exceptional details like inbuilt limestone tea tray, rope handles or charred cover of the scale, all these small unique pieces could be rather seen in a second glance and await patient visitors. Refined details and simple work of layering are the main features of the Tea Mountain shop design.

Client: Martin Špimr
Authors: A1Architects( MgA. Lenka Křemenová, MgA. David Maštálka)
Project: A1Architects
SUPPLIER: Ateliér Mánes – Jakub Vávra
Noren fabric: Vít Svoboda a Alžběta
Graphics: Toman design
Area: 55 m2
Completion: November 2013
Design: Autumn 2013

The post Straw and plaster-lined cafe by A1 Architects
based on Japanese tea houses appeared first on Dezeen.

Visitors to this timber tea house sit beneath a woven rope dome with a gilded skylight and a hanging teapot in the middle.

The building, named Black Teahouse, was designed by Czech studio A1Architects and sits beside a lake and woodland near the city of Česká Lípa.

The teapot is suspended from the ceiling by a knotted length of rope and nestles into a crevice in the floor.

The round walls of the building are coated in clay plaster and integrate three flower vases.

Large doors slide back from both rectangular and arched openings in the walls of the tea house to open it out to a sheltered deck.

The exterior of the larch building has been charred.

A1Architects also recently completed an apartment where a stainless steel net takes the place of a banister – see our earlier story here and see all our stories about A1Architects here.

Another tea house featured on Dezeen in the last month is a music room that hangs like a lantern – click here to see all our stories about tea houses.

Here’s some more text from A1Architects:

Black Teahouse

Place

On the southern edge of garden The Black Teahouse reflects itself in water level of small dark lake.

Large and exceptionally cultivated garden becomes natural part of nearby pine forest and its southern edge defined by S-shaped lake with grassy banks makes beautiful surroundings of the family house. And the Teahouse is just part of this carefully designed scenery.

There is fabulous view of the lake, which could be admired by the host and guests from the teahouse. It is a small place to gather, it is a place for a cup of tea.

Teahouse

The inner space of the teahouse could be adjusted by the sliding doors, so there are more levels of perception of nearby landscape. One could enframe his own preferred view as a painting in the interior.

There is a play of sunbeams in gilded skylight, when the teahouse is closed. The whole interior is crowned with knitted geometry of cone soffit made out of sisal ropes. The hearth is the central point of the room, from which the space flows to large veranda built with larch planks.

The veranda is a unique space for watching the water level and the life beneath. There is another important motif next to the knitted soffit in the interior, it is a rounded wall with clay plaster which integrates three bamboo vases as a reminiscence of famous japanese tokonoma – the niche for flowers and caligraphy.

The Teahouse is carefully designed to become a natural part od the landscape and so the green roof is a fragment of grassy surroundings.
The whole house is covered with charred larch facing.

Authors: Lenka Křemenová, David Maštálka / A1Architects
Place: Czech Republic, Česká Lípa

Carpenter: Vojtěch Bilišič, Slovakia
Interior area: 3,50 m2

Veranda area: 10 m2
Realization: Spring 2011

See also:

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Tea House by David Jameson	Hat Tea House by A1Architects	Tea house by David Maštálka

A1Architects of Prague designed this little tea house with a tall roof in Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

Called Hat Tea House, the 1.8 square-meter oak structure is clad in larch with a shingle roof.

The hearth is concealed in a drawer under a larch bench.

Portions of the walls can be folded back or liftedup to reveal the garden beyond, with sliding screens further altering the view.

More about A1Architects »

The following details are from A1Architects:

Hat Tea House

OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC
LENKA KŘEMENOVÁ, DAVID MAŠTÁLKA / A1ARCHITECTS

“Hat” is the third tea house we have realised. It is a small house to gather with a cup of tea, a tiny haven under the open roof in little charming garden. The minimal space of a teahouse is a great challenge for us to search for intimate and pleasant space, which brings unique atmosphere with its own secret inside. The inner space of tea house gives distinct perspective of the outside world.

“Hat” is the smallest of the three already designed teahouses. The name derives from its tall roof resembling a big hat in the garden. Its inner space is meant for 2 guests and a host within dimension of 1,8 x 1,8m. The seating is suit to its owners, so guests can enjoy sitting on wide larch bench.

The Hat has expressively dwarfed rooflining, the almost square layout transforms upwards into the round shape of skylight. Hearth is designed due to the minimal size of space as a drawer hidden under the bench. The main view is oriented to unique picturesque garden towards bizarre horizon with grassy coal waste dumps of Ostrava outskirts. The view could be adjusted by sliding windows and outer shutters.

Material plays important role when designing a teahouse. We search for natural ageing materials which makes the space warm and liveable. The carpented oak structure stands on dark grey stones, which harmonize with dark larch facing and shingle roof. The main inner wall is clad with oak plywood. All the structure was realized in summer 2010 by sculptor Vojtěch Bilišič.

Big inspiration for all of our tea houses was personal meeting with Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori and an experience with his own teahouse Takasugi-an in Nagano prefecture. As in our previous teahouses we tried to find our own interpretation of the theme, which intentionally differs from Japanese tradition a lot. We transfer it into a local situation using traditional materials and forms of Middle Europe.

DESIGN: Lenka Křemenová, David Maštálka / A1Architects
CARPENTER: Vojtěch Bilišič, Slovakia
BUILT AREA: 3,25 m2
REALIZATION: autumn 2010
A1Architects

See also:

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Takasugi-an by Terunobu Fujimori	Tea house by David Maštálka	Paper Tea House by Shigeru Ban