Chatai: Where Tradition Meets Contemporary Calm

Chatai will make its debut at Dubai Design District (d3) as part of Dubai Design Week 2025, offering visitors a serene pause amid the festival’s creative energy. Designed by Nikken Sekkei Dubai in collaboration with Japanese carpentry studio Sobokuya, the installation will reimagine Japanese tea culture through architecture, craftsmanship, and light.

Translating to “tea platform,” Chatai blends the intimacy of Chashitsu tea rooms with the openness of Yatai street stalls, creating a space where people can gather, reflect, and connect. Visitors will be invited to slow down, share tea, and experience how design can foster community, presence, and dialogue in a modern city.

Presented from 4–9 November 2025, the installation will arrive as part of Dubai Design Week’s exploration of Community a theme that will align perfectly with Chatai’s ethos of connection and cultural dialogue.

Chatai is a story about shared traditions. Nikken Sekkei will envision the space as a meeting point between Japan and the Middle East, where design will become a language of empathy, respect, and craft. It will reflect the studio’s belief that architecture should not only shape space but also nurture the human spirit.

The installation will be built on a 5.6 x 5.6 x 5.6-meter Japanese modular frame, meticulously crafted with timber joinery, tatami flooring, and soft, ambient lighting. Every detail from the careful proportions to the grain of the wood will reflect a balance of precision, tradition, and contemporary expression.

At the entrance, an Ikebana arrangement by the Sōgetsu school will welcome visitors with a living gesture of harmony, setting the tone for the experience within.

Inside, the space will unfold into a cultural encounter enhanced by graphic and architectural elements curated by Abjad Design, blending poetry and form. Chatai will embody the Japanese spirit of Omotenashi, where hospitality, craftsmanship, and subtle beauty will meet in quiet conversation.

More than an installation, Chatai will become a narrative in space an invitation to pause, to witness the dialogue between material and light, and to discover the stillness and rhythm that architecture can bring to daily life.