Tingtai Teahouse

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Tingtai Teahouse is located in a former factory space and art gallery in Shanghai’s art district of Moganshan Road. The client, a tea enthusiast, sought to create a traditional Chinese teahouse with a modern aesthetic. The traditional teahouse is made up of private rooms in which friends can gather to chat, socialise and enjoy the ritual of tea. Over the space of a few hours tea drinkers enjoy the preparation, fragrance, colour and varying flavours of the tea as they change through each brewing.

The existing space was stripped back to its raw state, exposing the patina of the concrete structure and the old brick walls and ceiling. An existing mezzanine was removed to expose a double height space with high level clerestory windows.

A series of teahouses with shifting roof lines were inserted into the space. In the double height space Linehouse stacked teahouses that are framed at either end with full height glass, offering views and natural light from the windows above. The teahouses are clad in brushed darkened stainless steel, emitting a blurred reflection of the surrounding existing space. At lower level a glass horizon frames the teahouse interior.

The teahouses rest on a green terrazzo landscape, allowing guests to inhabit this landscape with tables or recessed seating nestled within. The interiors of the teahouses are clad in smoked oak to create a simple yet warm interior. The height of the glass horizon provides privacy at eye level within the teahouse, whilst still giving guests a sense of the activity beyond. The main space is used as an event space for flower arranging or to host temporary art exhibitions.

Entering Tingtai Teahouse from the street, a floating staircase held by a fine metal green structure and white nougat terrazzo lining the walls and floors, takes guests to the upper floor. The green metal structure and terrazzo extends out into the street to create the teahouse façade.