Revising the Anti-Pavilion: MASS STUDIES: Osulloc Tea Museum Extension & Innisfree Jeju House Extension

SPACE March 2024 (No. 676) 

The evolution of the Seogwang Tea Garden began with the Osulloc Tea Museum in 2001, amidst the green tea fields and the rich Gotjawal ecosystem of Jeju Island. MASS STUDIES has been involved with eight interventions over the past 12 years, starting in 2011. These include the Tea Stone, Innisfree Jeju House, and Annex in 2012, the extension of Innisfree Jeju House in 2019, and the renovation and extension of the Tea Museum in 2023. Like building a ‘house’ in a game of Go, stones carefully placed one by one, it was a slow and delicate process of building and expanding the existing complex and the ‘relationship’ of each building with the existing environment in stages. To accomplish this, we worked closely with Seo-Ahn Total Landscape Design & Consulting Group, led by Jung Youngsun.

Visitors can explore interconnected, web-like ‘paths’, facilitating the discovery of relationships throughout the complex. These paths, varying in elevation, width, and contour, encourage movement and moments of pause, seamlessly blending nature and architecture. Transitioning from forested trails to interior passageways, visitors encounter a fluid experience that adapts to the terrain. Within the buildings, interior spaces vary in form and proportion―low or high, wide or narrow, rectilinear or curved, guiding the gaze and fostering encounters with new perspectives. The journey unfolds amidst vast, bright green tea plantations and intimate, shaded gotjawal forests, offering encounters with nature from all angles – above, below, and ahead – whether near or in the distance. In this immersive experience, visitors not only engage deeply with nature but also seamlessly integrate into the landscape.

Given that the existing Tea Museum is clad in terracotta bricks, the design strategy for the small new buildings focuses on complementing the existing structure to create visual harmony within the complex. The Tea Stone and Tea Terrace are finished in dark exposed concrete on the exterior, blending them discreetly into the forest surroundings. Internally, wood finishes preserve the light and warm ambiance characteristic of terracotta bricks. The cultivation of green tea initiated a transformative process over 50 years ago, turning the site from a barren stone field into the fertile landscape it is today. The sensory experiences of the scent, taste, and texture of green tea enrich and complete the holistic atmosphere of this place in a holistic and subtle way.