Terunobu Fujimori’s playful architecture challenges the user to take part. His teahouses and treehouses have entrances that are a squeeze; rickety ladders reach precarious structures and inside the compact spaces are only meant to fit one or two people. Perfectly formed, his fairytale creations confront the user and ask them to interact and reflect on the space. This is something we rarely do in our frenzied, fast-paced lifestyles. We barely have time for a coffee and to check our emails for the hundredth time that hour, let alone think about the ergonomics of the staff room sofa.

Tiny entrances, often through the floor, give the impression of entering a completely different world and within, the tea houses fortify the feeling of escape. Fujimori bases his buildings on traditions of the Japanese teahouse, experimenting with scale and structure. He creates small openings to let in natural light but also to engage with the natural world and create a comfortable, relaxing space. Traditional tea houses have no windows in order to focus the mind on the tea ceremony itself but Fujimori’s designs draw our mind to the environment we are in and encourage us to engage with our surroundings – something that has become a ceremony itself in the 21st century.