Vignettes: Students Build a Japanese Teahouse

Students use chisels and hammers on a woodworking project.

Using only hand tools, and working in silence, students crafted a beautiful Japanese teahouse over the course of four weeks.

A student works on a timber with chisel and hammer

Using only hand tools, and working in silence, students crafted a beautiful Japanese teahouse over the course of four weeks.

The teahouse design utilized mortise and tenon construction techniques to create sturdy joints. Handcrafted wooden pins secured the structure in place.

Students assemble a timberframe structure in a studio

The teahouse design utilized mortise and tenon construction techniques to create sturdy joints. Handcrafted wooden pins secured the structure in place.

Man in red sweatshirt measures a wall of a timber structure.

Under the guidance of boatbuilder Douglas Brooks, who previously taught winter term courses on Japanese boat building, the students studied technical aspects of Japanese carpentry and the cultural underpinnings of apprentice learning.

A student hand mills a wooden pin for a timber structure.

The teahouse design utilized mortise and tenon construction techniques to create sturdy joints. Handcrafted wooden pins secured the structure in place.

A student on a step ladder helps assemble a timber structure in a studio.

In their readings and writing assignments, students explored how the culture of apprenticeship, the tea ceremony, and other aspects of Buddhist training inform their accepted notions of learning.

Students lean back look at a wooden structure they're building.

In week four of winter term, the class assembled the structure in their Johnson Hall workshop.

Students stand outside a newly constructed Japanese teahouse.

The campus community gathered for a Shinto dedication and traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony on the last day of winter term.

Vignettes: Students Build a Japanese Teahouse

Building a Japanese Teahouse

Office of Communications

Contact Us

Connect