My tea house

In the late 1970’s after studying Japanese Tea Ceremony for a few years I decided to build a Tea house.  I became so enamored of the beauty of the whole practice and its emphasis on seasons, simplicity and conversation that I wanted my own innovative environment.

I decided on using a 20 foot shipping container.  I bought two for about $1200 and put them in the parking lot at Candlestick park.  I got permission by offering one container for storage use by the parking lot cleaning crew.

One friend built a garden outside the door of the container.  Inside I put a tatami floor, a small enclosed room for a toilet, and I cut a floor to ceiling panel out of the West side for a window.

I invited all my friends for Tea and had one wonderful evening at the Tea House.

Containers have been in use by architects ever since then.  This piece with many photos is what reminded me.

Candlestick Park is in a black neighborhood.  Consequently dangerous.  It wasn’t long before someone broke into the Tea House.  There was nothing to steal.  So the bad guys pooped on the tatami.  The cops told me that burglars do that often.

I never paid attention to my containers after that.