Not content to have covered a restaurant with colorful ethernet cables or erected a cocoon-like fabric canopy in a clothing boutique, Japanese starchitect Kengo Kuma has turned his gimlet design eye on a Chinese teahouse and given it a rad revamp with a quotidian material: plastic. The four different kinds of hollow polyethylene blocks that make up the walls and ceiling of this reimagined, 2,690-square-foot teahouse in Beijing are arranged to appear locked together like LEGOs. The radical contemporary building stands in pretty stark contrast to the Chinese capital's Forbidden Palace, which lies just opposite Kuma's latest experiment in materials.
∙ Kengo Kuma Strikes Again, Wraps Boutique in a Fabric Cocoon [Curbed]
∙ Kengo Kuma Turns Ethernet Cables into Wild Restaurant Decor [Curbed]
∙ What Happens When Starchitects Design Soy Sauce Stores [Curbed]
∙ Kengo Kuma Renovates a Chinese Tea House Using Hollow Polyethylene Blocks [Designboom]