Photos: Clements Photography and Design

What do you get when you mix Henry David Thoreau, a pterodactyl, and coffee? Architect Brian Ripel and artist Jean Shin’s project, Tea House, which is currently installed on the roof of the deCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, roughly one mile from Thoreau’s hideout on Walden Pond. Visitors to the museum’s rooftop are encouraged to sit and enjoy a cup of tea beneath the outstretched wings of the pavilion’s canopy, composed of over 250,000 red plastic coffee stirrers.

From afar, the canopy seems at once too commonplace to be remarkable, yet too glossy to be commonplace, its form only slightly more ambitious than the angles and lines typically found in a patio umbrella or retractable awning. A closer look, however, reveals a delightful and varied texture. The straws overlap in irregular shingles, and this, combined with their translucency, allows for interesting light effects to play across the surface. Now, you don’t have to be a Transcendentalist to get a kick out of that.

[via A/N Blog]

by AJ Artemel

posted in Uncategorized

tagged brian ripel, coffee stirrers, jean shin, massachusetts, pavilion, red, walden pond

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