The Teahouse reimagines an existing university break room as a shared space for rest, conversation and everyday communal life. The room previously functioned mainly as a place for quick tasks such as heating food. The project reorganizes the space to support longer stays and more varied activities. Soft seating, informal zones and shared kettles introduce simple infrastructures for gathering, eating and spending time together.
The project is part of the HIL Living Lab at the campus of ETH Zurich that explores student-run infrastructures on campus. The intention is to create spaces that are designed, built and operated by the student community itself. This approach opens a dialogue between students and the institution while allowing the community to take an active role in shaping its environment. The Teahouse operates as a prototype that tests how shared spaces can emerge through collective initiative and stewardship.
The concept draws on the cultural idea of the teahouse as a place associated with attention, care and a slower rhythm of daily life. Preparing tea becomes a small ritual that encourages pause and presence within the university environment. By setting up and operating this space, the project investigates how modest spatial interventions can support social exchange, collective responsibility and new forms of everyday infrastructure on campus.
