Jufeng Town, Lanshan District, Rizhao City, Shandong Province, China

 “I think this is homesickness, a deep emotion that comes from the earth and the countryside, and in this emotion, there is the power of life,” states Xiangwei Kong.

Xiangwei Kong and his design team at Kong Xiangwei Studio have designed the One Leaf Tea Pavilion that cantilevers over the slope of the road as if it fell into the green mountains and fields and seems to float over the landscape.

The modern pavilion has an architectural sense of an astonishing future. 

During the day, the oval shape echoes the vehicles racing on the highway. 

At night, the white pavilion looks like a UFO falling in the dark environment with a little sense of humor and fun at the same time.

Inside the pavilion is an empty space, into which visitors can see the mountains to the east, the tea fields to the south, and the distant mountains to the southwest through the narrow view frame formed by the eaves and the steel guardrail.

The light and shadow inside the teahouse change with the sun, changing from time to time.

When it rains, the cornice of the pavilion gives birth to a bead curtain of rain, which falls evenly.

To see and be seen is a wonderful thing: people receive visual comfort while watching. 

The tea pavilion is the sight of passers-by and workers in the tea garden.

The teahouse is similar to a small stage: people who wander between them become dramatis personas in the land and countryside.

“After the completion of the tea pavilion,” states Kong, “I met two women picking tea, the villagers of the village, one of them said that the pavilion is the most beautiful, her old man often goes up the mountain, ‘sometimes get lost down the mountain, now you can see the pavilion in the mountain, no longer need to be afraid of getting lost, the old man lost.’”

“Another said that when the family came to the field to call her to eat, they said that it would be easy to find her in a certain direction of the pavilion.”

“I know that the villagers are expressing in a funny and humorous way, but they also express their love for the pavilion,” Kong continues.

“In addition to staying and sheltering from wind and rain, I think the most important thing is to create an art space to mark this high-quality tea garden.”

“Through this landmark, people will have a deep geographical impression of Rizhao green Tea, and it will become an artistic force to help farmers and revitalize the countryside.”

“After the completion of the tea pavilion, I often pass by, there are several pictures deeply imprinted in my mind.”

“Once, I drove by on a rainy day, the pavilion was full of tea-picking people, surrounded by each other, crowded together, talking and laughing, the sound spread far.”

“And once, there was a big sister in the live broadcast, as the representative of the tea garden, simply put the tea set directly on the white ground, opened the tea ceremony.”

“And on another occasion, the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, a group of children from the village primary school, dressed in light pink handful dancing in the pavilion, looked at from a distance, the shape is very beautiful.”

“The best picture is that one day, when the night falls, when the moon is hanging empty, and the teahouse has not been lit, inside and outside the teahouse, in a kind of dark tone,” continues the architect.

“A middle-aged man, put the motorcycle in the driveway and alone, standing in the depths of the tea, pinglan xuan month see the round, he should have a father, mother, have children, and with home waiting for his wife and pillar is certainly a family life, but can be in after a day’s work, on my way home, stop here for a moment, alone appreciate the rural in the mist, look at the leaves of the xuan month…”

“I think, his heart at this time will certainly have a poem, this poem, may be the silent tell, may be to the quiet silence.”

Project: One Leaf Tea Pavilion
Architects: Kong Xiangwei Studio/Guanzhu Landscape & Plandesign Institute
Lead Architect: Kong Xiangwei
Design Team: Cui Jun, Li Guodong, and Xu Duo
Photographers: Literal Translation Architectural Photography