The Sekiyuan Waiting Area, a small timber pavilion, awaits visitors at the entrance of the Sekiyuan tea room in Chiba, Japan. This unique structure, designed by local studio Kurosawa Kawara-Ten, showcases a blend of traditional craftsmanship and modern design. The waiting area features a textured roof made of mortar and soil, gradually overgrown with moss, creating a natural and rustic ambiance. The DIY approach, led by studio founder Kenichi Kurosawa, celebrates the art of handcrafting and aims to reintroduce a sense of the handcrafted into urban architecture. This project addresses the current shortage of skilled building artisans in Japan, challenging the creation of new, distinct expressions of locality within the suburbs. The waiting area is framed by a narrow passage, forming part of a ceremonial entrance route known as the roji, leading visitors into the tea room's garden. The garden, designed by landscape designer Takeda-ya Sakuteiten, uses salvaged rocks and tiles as paving, adding to the rustic charm. A wooden fence at the edge of the site forms the back of the waiting area, built from four slender timber supports on concrete and stone blocks. The angled form of the pavilion aligns with a raised timber deck outside the tea house, and the steep slope of its roof evokes the feeling of passing through a nijiri-guchi, the traditional crawlspace used to enter tea rooms. The roof is coated with a mixture of mortar and soil, lightly brushed to create a texture that will invite moss growth over time, reflecting the tea ceremony culture's appreciation for rustic charm and the intention for moss to deepen its aesthetic appeal. This practice also originates from the tradition of crafting tea ceremony instruments from wild plants and trees. Kurosawa Kawara-Ten's innovative approach to architecture has been featured in various projects, including the transformation of a vacant house in Ichihara City into a workspace using recycled and local materials. The studio's work continues to push the boundaries of design, blending traditional craftsmanship with modern aesthetics.
