The Sekiyuan Waiting Area, a small timber pavilion designed by Kurosawa Kawara-Ten, is a testament to the studio's innovative approach to architecture. Located in Chiba, Japan, this self-built structure serves as a waiting area for the Sekiyuan tea room, a collaboration between the studio and the tea room's master, a ceramicist and artist. The waiting area is characterized by its textured roof, crafted from a mixture of mortar and soil excavated from the garden, which will gradually be overgrown with moss, creating a natural and rustic charm. This design reflects the tea ceremony culture's appreciation for the natural and the handcrafted, drawing inspiration from the tradition of crafting tea ceremony instruments from wild plants and trees. The roof's steep slope is designed to evoke the feeling of passing through a nijiri-guchi, the traditional crawlspace used to enter tea rooms, adding a unique and immersive experience for visitors. The waiting area is framed by a narrow passage that leads from the nearby street into the tea room's garden, forming part of a ceremonial entrance route known as the roji. The garden, designed by landscape designer Takeda-ya Sakuteiten, features salvaged rocks and tiles as paving, creating a harmonious and sustainable space. The wooden fence at the edge of the site forms the back of the waiting area, built from four slender timber supports that sit on concrete and stone blocks, providing a sturdy and aesthetically pleasing structure. This project is a testament to Kurosawa Kawara-Ten's commitment to reintroducing a sense of the handcrafted into the city's architecture, celebrating skills that are at risk of being lost.
