In his mountainside atelier, Toshihiko Suzuki, professor at the Tohoku University of Art and Design, constructed this minimally cubic two-tatami tea-ceremony room. Working in his favourite material — aluminium — Suzuki had two aims. One was to play with the changing combinations of interior and exterior light, and the other was to blur the actual dimensions when sitting inside. Concealed interior tungsten lighting is computer-controlled, cycling up and down, while daylight filters through the circular holes cut out of the laminated, honeycomb aluminium walls. Feeling that aluminium would be too hard a finish for the interior, Suzuki had panels made by sandwiching the honeycomb centre in traditionally-made rice paper. The combination of panels and walls is 10 cm thick, and when the exterior light dominates guests inside feel the space is slightly larger than when the interior lights are stronger.
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