The concept of “KOU-AN Glass Tea House” was presented at the Glasstress 2011, the collateral event of the 54th La Biennale di Venezia. In 2015, the teahouse was first unveiled at the stage of Seiryu-den which is in a precinct of Tendai Sect Shoren-in, Kyoto.

Japanese concept of nature, which perceive energies, is embedded in the culture of tea ceremony. “KOU-AN Glass Tea House” is not merely a modernized tea house, but an art project that traces the origin of Japanese culture. 

This glass-made architecture of light does not have a single tatami, scroll nor flower that are supposed to be provided in traditional tea house. Instead, the floor is dressed with sparkle reminiscent of water ripples, and reflections of sunlight within a prism project a rainbow. Integrated with nature and released from materialistic concept, this architecture of light illuminates poetic scenes.

In A.D.794, A Japanese emperor at the time visited Shogunzuka and he was convinced that Kyoto would be a right place to be a capital of Japan and started constructing the capital. Thus, Shogunzuka in a precinct of Shoren-in temple is a place where the city of Kyoto, which symbolizes Japanese cultures, origins. From Kyoto to all over the world, Tokujin hopes his creation has provided people a new experience to think of the origin of Japanese culture.

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