Backyard teahouses for meditation, guest cottage, homeoffice

When a Silicon Valley executive asked architect Robert Swatt to design teahouses for his backyard, Swatt wasn't sure where to begin, but his client explained that he wanted one for tea, one for life and one for work.

Swatt created 8 or 9 models trying to determine the ideal shape for these tiny houses and finally settled on the simplest design. All glass with steel and concrete for support, each tea house floats over the landscape. Cantilevered in place, the buildings help preserve the delicate root systems of the surrounding native oaks.

Swatt says they've received many requests to recreate these nearly transparent structures, even as stand-alone tiny houses, and he says it could work as a modern prefab. "We could do something like this, if you keep it down to something you could drive on the highway and you could lift into place with a crane, you could probably do that and probably save a lot of money too by building it in a factory."

Swatt Miers Architects: http://www.swattmiers.com

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