V&A Small Spaces

Terunobu Fujimori

Tokyo, Japan
Beetle's House
MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE ROOM 64B, LEVEL 2

Terunobu Fujimori insists that his buildings should by-pass any architectural style that has developed since the Bronze Age. The charred pine exterior of this elevated teahouse resembles the tough, blackened shell of a beetle. It expresses an avant-garde attitude to architecture that somehow aspires to a primitive state.

The dramatic process of burning the timber panels provides a textured and tactile surface - an extreme materiality. It also preserves the wood and extends the lifetime of the building.

Fujimori sees the structure as a site for a quintessentially 'English' version of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Teahouses often act like pieces of clothing. They are compact spaces that wrap around us like extensions of our bodies. Visitors enter the structure by climbing a ladder barefoot and squeezing through a narrow hatch - a profoundly physical process that momentarily distracts us from our surroundings.

Many of Fujimori's teahouses are designed to re-configure our views of the surrounding landscape. Similarly, 'Beetle's House' offers visitors a unique perspective on this day-lit gallery.

my map reading skills were put to the test finding these structures in the V&A but thankfully i managed it. 

The Beetle house proved a favorite, although i will admit i did not explore inside, as a feared once in the house, i would not able to venture back down the ladders to get me out.