Publisher: Birkhäuser Architecture Author: Volker Fischer ISBN: 9783764387877 Format: Softcover, 132pp, 234x224 mm 

Kengo Kuma’s Teahouse is a masterly reinterpretation of a classical Japanese building type. Delivered in August 2007 for the Park of the Frankfurt Museum of Applied Arts (a Richard Meier Building), Kuma’s innovative structure is a flexible, semi-transparent, breathing Tenara-Membrane – inflated by means of a pneumatic system to a blossom-like form – and houses in the interior the classical elements for a Japanese tea ceremony. Integrated LED technology allows the use of the teahouse at night; the interior can be heated by way of the membrane.

The monograph, including an original text by Kuma himself, gives an in-depth documentation of this lyrical temporary structure – an outstanding example of ephemeral architecture, combining poetry and technology – with many unpublished sketches, technical plans and with splendid colour photographs.