atelier deshaus shapes meditative tea house in li garden, shanghai

discretely built in the xuhui area of shanghai, the tea house in li garden is completed by chinese practice atelier deshaus. the building enjoys a relatively complete and large courtyard towards the entrance gate and sits in the northwest corner where a paulownia tree stands. prior to the project, the space was something of a residual garden with two staircases that linked to a neighboring office. therefore, a key point in the design process has been to minimize the architecture so as to highlight the revived garden.

the tea house is built in an L-shaped opening towards the garden, where the paulownia tree stands
all images © tian fangfang

atelier deshaus has adapted the architecture around the paulownia by cutting the volume facing the tree into an L-shape, thus creating a tiny backyard that functions as an outdoor room complementary to the tea house. even more, the thick large trunk become an active actor of the space. on the other hand, in order to link the building to the garden without disturbance, three horizontal cantilevers have been added at different heights. one is at 45 cm high and functions as a bench encircling the building in and out ; another at 1.8 meters high extends the interior space into the courtyard which marks the human scale of the corridor; the roof makes up the last cantilever with an area of 40 sq.m as opposed to the ground floor which makes up 19 sq.m. this spatial layout redefines the outer space in the south, north and west — allowing the garden vegetation to permeate between inside and out. 

three horizontal cantilevers at different heights are added to link the building to the garden without disturbing it

 to preserve this typical perception of a small and light tea house, 60mm steel tubes have been incorporated in square cross-sections all over the building. while satisfying structural needs, this element also has a chance to participate in the formal, aesthetic composition of the architecture. in other words, it easily adapts itself to the scale of the furniture, thus establishing a close relationship with the human body. the roof is made of 8mm steel insulation boards fixed by an anti-ribbed steel panel, which is meant to keep the roof smooth. concerning the lighting system and thermal insulation, the architects create a suspended ceiling that hides the structural beam and includes the air conditioning system underground.

the buildings occupies minimal space so as to properly form and highlight the garden

the extension of the roof allows the green space in the garden to permeate in and out

this backyard functions as an outdoor room complementary to the tea house

the cantilever at a 45cm height works as a bench encircling the building both inside and outside

landscape permeate through translucent glass

the roof is made of 8mm steel boards

atelier deshaus tea house: ground floor

east façade

axonometric drawing

project info:

project name: tea house in li garden

location: longteng avenue xuhui area ,shanghai , china

architect: atelier deshaus

structure engineer: structure and architecture office

design team: liu yichun, shen wen, wang weishi, zhang zhun( structure engineer)

landscape design: july cooperative company

client: exception

gross floor area: 19.0 sq.m.

design period: 09.2015 – 12.2015
completion: 06.2016

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom