a contemporary teahouse by line+ emerges from the riverside cliffs of jiuxing village

among the scenic rural landscape the south of the yangtze river, line+ realizes its ‘teahouse in jiuxing village.’ the project is expressed as a dissipating concrete volume which seems to emerge from the sloping context like a natural landform, a continuation of the surrounding cliffs. the design team seeks to create an intimate relationship between architecture and the environment with the creation of this public space. the building is a celebration of dialogues — at once embracing tradition and modernity along with material thickness and light.

image © xia zhi

line+ sites its teahouse in jiuxing village along a cliff in hangzhou, overlooking the confluence of three rivers and the mountains beyond. rather than marking a single object within the landscape, the teahouse appears fragmented as it descends the hill in a series of stone terraces. the program is divided into two primary functions — a teahouse and touristic reception space — which take shape as a main building and secondary building, both expressed with the same terraced language. 

image © xia zhi

in the design of its teahouse in jiuxing village, line+ rethinks the traditional material and organizational strategies of the region. typically, such rural structures are defined by their sloping roofs, scattered layouts, and wood construction. the team chose instead to express its teahouse in concrete for a number of reasons. the thickness of the material offers a balance with the overall volume of the building, which is fragmented and modest. at the same time, concrete can be manipulated in many ways. here, the surface is stamped with a wood template, suggesting a timber quality that creates a special sense of scale and texture.

image © zhao yilong

image © xia zhi

image © zhao yilong

image © zhao yilong

image © zhao yilong

image © zhao yilong

image © zhao yilong

image © zhao yilong

 
image © zhao yilong

image © he yaliang

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project info:

project title: teahouse in jiuxing village

architecture: line+

location: jiande city, hangzhou, zhejiang province, china

completion: 2020

photography: © he yaliang, image © zhao yilong, © xia zhi