Phantom Tea Room installation at the Zaha Hadid Foundation courtyard

Of Architecture uses printed curtain to create Phantom Tea Room in London

London and Seoul studio Of Architecture has installed an anamorphic printed curtain in the courtyard of the Zaha Hadid Foundation to create a temporary setting for Gongfu tea gatherings.

Named Phantom Tea Room, the installation was developed with tea brand Yanwu for the Architecture Foundation’s POST PRESS programme in Clerkenwell, London.

Anamorphic printed curtain inside the Phantom Tea Room — The printed curtain subtly redraws the existing courtyard. © Jay Yang

Phantom Tea Room courtyard installation by Of Architecture — Of Architecture worked with the courtyard as it was found. © Jay Yang

A curtain alters the familiar courtyard

Rather than introduce a conventional pavilion, the studio stretched an anamorphic curtain across the space. Its image echoes the surrounding architecture while shifting its proportions and depth, producing a scene that appears familiar but cannot be fully reconciled with the courtyard behind it.

The lightweight intervention uses image and perception as architectural materials. Depending on the visitor’s position, the printed surface aligns with the existing walls or separates from them, giving the installation its phantom-like quality.

Visitors gathering for tea in the Phantom Tea Room — The installation framed the courtyard as a social interior. © Jay Yang

Printed curtain and timber benches in the Zaha Hadid Foundation courtyard — The curtain creates an architectural effect without permanent construction. © Jay Yang

Makeshift benches built from exposed timber studwork extend the intervention at ground level. They sit alongside a dry-stone bench by Studio Armitage, creating an informal arrangement for conversation and tea.

Tea service arranged inside the Phantom Tea Room — Tea vessels and low furniture occupied the centre of the installation. © Jay Yang

Gongfu tea gathering beneath the printed installation — Yanwu hosted an open Gongfu tea salon across four days. © Jay Yang

Tea turns the installation into a place of gathering

From 27 to 30 July 2026, Yanwu operated the courtyard as an open Gongfu tea salon. The programme drew on six generations of tea-growing heritage from the Phoenix Mountain region of Chaozhou, China.

Visitors gathered around the temporary furniture to taste tea and observe the slow sequence of preparation. In this setting, hospitality activated the visual intervention, turning a curtain and a set of benches into a shared room.

Visitors seated on temporary studwork benches — Exposed timber benches provided informal seating. © Jay Yang

Tea being prepared during the Phantom Tea Room programme — Gongfu tea preparation became part of the spatial experience. © Jay Yang

Ceramic tea vessels used during the Gongfu tea salon — Ceramic vessels connected the programme to material craft. © Jay Yang

Clay workshops extend the programme

Two evening workshops explored the relationship between tea and clay. Mis-Guided Tea Tasting examined how different ceramic vessels change the perception of a single tea, while Mountain in Clay invited participants to hand-build cups from wild UK clay.

The latter session was organised with ceramic artist Kyri Mouzouris of Muzuri Ware. Tea was served from Mouzouris’s vessels before participants began forming their own cups by hand.

Workshop participants handling clay in the courtyard — Participants explored clay through hand-building. © Jay Yang

Hand-built clay cups created during the Phantom Tea Room programme — Wild UK clay was used to form individual tea cups. © Jay Yang

Clay-focused workshop inside the Phantom Tea Room — The workshops linked architecture, tea and ceramics. © Jay Yang

A final drop-in session titled Sketching in Clay was led by ceramicist Natcha Kucita. The free-form hand-coiling workshop brought the clay-focused programme to a close on the installation’s fourth day.

Through its changing programme, Phantom Tea Room treated gathering as an architectural act shaped by perception, material and hospitality rather than enclosure alone.

Final gathering in the Zaha Hadid Foundation courtyard — Phantom Tea Room remained open from 27 to 30 July 2026. © Jay Yang

Project Credits

Project: Phantom Tea Room
Location: Zaha Hadid Foundation, Clerkenwell, London, United Kingdom
Completion: 2026
Design firm: Of Architecture / @of__uk
Collaborators: Yanwu, Muzuri Ware, Natcha Kucita / @natchakucita, Studio Armitage (dry-stone bench)
Photography: Jay Yang / @jay_cc_yang
Installation design: Of Architecture