Hrabina Tea Spot is dedicated to the traditional Japanese tea ceremony for locals, tourists and supporters of the LEJA tea house on Castle Hill in Cieszyn. It is set on the Czech side of the city, right next to Hrabina pond. The spot invites people to experience closure with nature by making visitors focus on the reservoir - its view, sound and movement. Interior can fit at least six people, who can sit together at the tea table during the ceremony, face to face with the water on their side. The light, openwork structure refers to traditional japanese interior design but it has a modern twist.
A few rules of the ceremony were put into the design. To enter the platform participants have to lean down a little bit under the lower beam, which refers to a small door called nijiri-guchi. It symbolizes the equality of all the participants. From the very entrance, first noticeable part is the wide open window with a breathtaking view on the reservoir. Seats placed on the floor along the table on both sides (three on one, three on another) invite you to sit on your knees, as in Japanese culture. The plywood covering the bottom part gives visitors a feeling of privacy, detachment from the outside and everyday affairs. The open entrance frame lets other people know that the spot is occupied and should not be disturbed. Low table located in the center is perfect for putting the cups down after drinking. Also, it can easily be used as a bench while no one is having a tea ceremony. It follows the parts of Japanese
ideology, which focuses on simplicity and ascetic sophistication. That is why the table is the only furniture in the pavilion and it is the only necessary one, so nothing
distracts participants from the ceremony.
The small width of it enables feeling closer to others, allowing them to feel a connection between each other. Whole construction is based on a plane of a square of three on three meters and its height is four meters. It mainly consists of square-section longitudinal spruce beams. Other materials are spruce floor panels, plywood and an agrotextile that hangs on the top part of the construction. The shape of the construction relates to a traditional tea pavilion. Thanks to the material pinned at an angle and plywood at
lower section it gives the impression of a little house, but much more light and transparent. Also the textile protects from sun while visitors are enjoying drinking tea inside.
We perceive the pavilion as an anthropological interpretation of functionality and aesthetics. The form of the pavilion is based on regional features and transforms them into the current context. A noticeable element with which we are working is the reinterpretation of a traditional house with a chimney into a “light house”. We take it as a point denoting a place of meeting, a place of socialization, a place of home, a place for community. This form may not be inconspicuous, but purposely attractive and highly visual. Aesthetics is transferred to the structure and the banal static scheme of the lightning roof is turned into a graphic and visual pattern. We start from the concept of a functional ornament, where the lighting roof as a visual attractor also serves as a spatial static beam, thanks to which no columns are needed in its center.
Authors: (tutors)Andrej Olah, Filip Marčák,Jana Filípková, Alexandra Májska, (student's) Jan CHmurski, Maciej Kuratzyk, Michał Teodorczyk, Maria Pawłova, Katarzyna Oowczarska, Julia Kurnik, Aleksandra Gospodarek, Alickja Łosik
Location: Cziesyn / Český Tešín
Year: 2022
Area: 9 m2
Credits: Matej Hakar
Status: built
Type: public interior, exhibition
Autori: Andrej Olah, Filip Marčák, Matej Kurajda, Jana Filípková, Simona Fischerová, Alexandra Májska, Miroslava Mišurová, Marek Jankovič
Lokalita: Ipolytárnoc, Maďarsko
Rok: 2020
Rozloha: XX m2
Fotky: Filip Marčák
Status: build
Typ: verejný interiér, exhibition
© 2020 Grau Architects
olah(at)grau.sk, +421 907 503 946, Velehradská 7/A, 821 08 Bratislava, Slovakia
olah(at)grau.sk, +421 907 503 946, Velehradská 7/A, 821 08 Bratislava, Slovakia
olah(at)grau.sk, +421 907 503 946, Velehradská 7/A, 821 08 Bratislava, Slovakia
olah(at)grau.sk, +421 907 503 946, Velehradská 7/A, 821 08 Bratislava, Slovakia
olah(at)grau.sk, +421 907 503 946, Velehradská 7/A, 821 08 Bratislava, Slovakia
olah(at)grau.sk, +421 907 503 946, Velehradská 7/A, 821 08 Bratislava, Slovakia