In creating his tearoom Taian, Sen no Rikyu employed coarse walls of earth with plentiful bits of fiber for plastering mixed in. The walls were antithetical in mood to the rigid formality of the shoin (study) style of architecture, dominant at that time. The corners of the walls, instead of forming right angles as might be expected, were rounded and exuded a supple, organic air, like a living thing. I felt that I wanted this tearoom to be soft and supple, in a similar way, for in my mind the tearoom is a place antithetical in character to our rigid and highly regulated society. Instead of bits of fibers I have employed polyester mesh, and instead of earth, silicon, a material used in artificial skin. (Silicon is in fact created from a kind of earth). In form, it is not simply rounded but also moves in a soft, spongy way, like a living organism, through the entry and release of air. The purpose of this tearoom is to destroy the rigidity of architecture (society) and return to it the essential flexibility of living things.
source:
kengo kuma/works/pavilion
