The year 2023 marks not only the 150th anniversary of the Vienna World’s Fair (1873), in which Japan participated for the first time after its more than 250 years of voluntary seclusion (Sakoku: 1603-1868) but also the 110th anniversary of the Japanese garden in Schönbrunn Palace Park. In this context, the special course “Learning from the Japanese Teahouse” was run for a semester by our Research Unit in collaboration with the JASEC, and students of civil engineering and architecture were able to jointly develop a contemporary teahouse design. As a result, a design by Karolin Kohnke and Adrian Spengler (Student Assistant during the terms 2023-2024) was ultimately implemented in the Japanese Gardens at Schönbrunn Palace Park in July of 2023.

A year after, the project is proposed to inaugurate the Exporttag24 “Beyond the Box”by the WKO. The protoype proved to be a successful, self-sufficient green building. The teahouse design is as simple as it is impressive: the walls of a cube are dissolved into wooden frames in which translucent textiles are stretched, the classical shoji walls thus converted into a textile skin. The result is a pavillion that is light, modular, quick to set up and can also be reassembled at another location. Design for Disassembly, the efficient use of natural materials and an ecological awareness of the built environment and its use were key to its design.

It was temporarily exhibited after this date at the event “From Pieces to Peace” held at Schloss Loosdorf.

Further details on the various designs, the planning and construction process, can be found on the Instagram profile of the project Heterotopia.