The media are not toys… they can be entrusted only to new artists, because they are art forms.
(McLuhan, 1954)
Brewing Flower Power
Winner of CBDX Cities for All Competition by University of Calgary SAPL,
Editor’s Choice Switch Competitions,
Top 10 ArcDeck Radical Urbanism
Site: Hyde Park, London
Year: December, 2020
Featured by Canadian Architects, Archinect, UCalgary SAPL,
BUILD-ING, Harvard GSD,
+memorial +teahouse +pavilion +womensrights +ephemeral+architecture
Recalling the geometries of the first tearooms run by women, such as the Willow Tea Room in the U.K. and the condiments that accompany tea beverages (ice and sugar cubes), our cubic pavilion is a Winter Teaporium celebrating the important role of tearooms in advancing women’s rights and the feminist claim to public space since the 1800s. We propose to integrate ice as a vessel to display the teas served in the original female-run tearoom businesses—each hanging ice cube embeds a blend of floral teas and seeds, forming a cloud where people can select their favorite blend to brew into hot steaming cups of fresh tea. Clusters of moveable ice furniture and heaters are placed in and out of the Teaporium, allowing visitors to enjoy their hot beverages in the winter landscape, engaging park visitors in an immersive olfactory and tactile experience.
In the spring, when the ice melts away from the structure, the seeds embedded in the cubes fall and disperse in the surrounding landscape, and the remaining meltwater is absorbed on-site as a sustainable source of water for the floral seeds to germinate from the ground, blurring the transition between natural/artificial, interior/exterior. The resulting form is a fluid, colorful meadow of flora and fauna – a lasting memory of the Winter Teaporium and history of women’s rights embedded in the Hyde Park landscape, a seamless pavilion and must-see installation for park visitors.
TEAM: With Tianwei Li and Joanne Li
In the spring, when the ice melts away from the structure, the seeds embedded in the cubes fall and disperse in the surrounding landscape, and the remaining meltwater is absorbed on-site as a sustainable source of water for the floral seeds to germinate from the ground, blurring the transition between natural/artificial, interior/exterior. The resulting form is a fluid, colorful meadow of flora and fauna – a lasting memory of the Winter Teaporium and history of women’s rights embedded in the Hyde Park landscape, a seamless pavilion and must-see installation for park visitors.
TEAM: With Tianwei Li and Joanne Li
