A Unique Tea House Designed By Ai Weiwei In A Chinese Architecture Park

Designed by architecture and industrial design firm FR-EE, the ‘Bridging Teahouse’ is one of 17 pavilions located in JinHua Architecture Park in the city of Jinhua, China. The park is situated in the new Jindong New District, a new area master planned by Herzog & de Meuron since 2003. The well-known Chinese artist Ai Weiwei secured the order to design the park which is set by the Jiwu river. FR-EE’s Bridging Teahouse explores the typological interaction between the two traditional structures from the gardens of ancient China, a teahouse and a bridge. The bridge spans as a continuous concrete structure over a pond in a flaming red color, which is a traditional symbol for happiness in China. Working in collaboration with local engineers, different platforms were constructed for different uses, creating privacy and intimacy that generate individual experiences for the teahouse’s visitors.

All images © Iwan Baan