Watchman Teahouse

Guanzhuscape Design Studio

Short description

The project is located in an ordinary village in Shandong Province, China, Which is an abandoned tea farmer's residence in the tea fields. The restore process respects the site following the minimum intervention principle. Architect retains old building and revives it with new functions.
The new part is reinforced by steel structure as a white light tower which expands the previous height, windows are widely opened not only to create a brand new façade but also to increase lighting, simple and clean design language is also applied to contrast with the old prototype.
The new building serves as a tea house for local farmers and tourists, providing shelter and a leisure place for them. It is also a landmark tower for observation in the daytime, and a lighthouse for villagers when into the night.
Inspired by Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, Mr. Kong designed the house to watch over the field of hope.
The teahouse is an important project for revitalizing local village, helping the development of tea garden tourism and the tea industry by its landmark attractive effect. This kind of restoration project also expressed the architect’s thinking on the transformation of contemporary Chinese rural buildings: retain the history and also brave in innovation to embrace a brand new future.