THE PLACE OF SHARED EXPERINCE

Urasenke Yuin

Live Well Collective reframes ritual as everyday infrastructure, a community-scale space where the small, repeated acts of daily life become architecture's primary material. It responds to a growing shortage of shared experience in a fast-paced, media-driven culture, offering a public escape from the city built around collective wellbeing rather than programmed activity.

The project began with research into traditional Japanese tea houses, where every detail, spatial organization, material selection, ambient design,  serves a prescribed ritual. Understanding why these ceremonies hold their values was essential to asking how those values might adapt to a global, contemporary context.

Live Well Collective

Contemporary spaces of shared experience wellness centers, community centers often fall short by isolating ritual into discrete, programmed episodes, neglecting the sensory experience of the space as a whole. The result is public space that feels segregated, temporary, and transactional, displacing the everyday rituals that actually sustain mental, physical, and social wellbeing.

The Ritual

Live Well Collective steps away from the hyper-prescribed, symmetrical path of the tea ceremony. It borrows tea's spirit of sharing but reframes ritual as a non-hierarchical third space one that folds movement, rest, sociality, and reflection into the ordinary rhythms of a day. Architecture becomes a tool for small, significant moments of care: chatting with a friend after a pickleball game, stretching casually in the sun, sharing food under canvas

Modern building with large glass windows, trees in front, and a wooden fence on one side, under a partly cloudy sky.
A modern outdoor sports facility with a tennis court, surrounded by a wooden structure with glass walls and a shaded roof. People are sitting, walking, and playing tennis.
Interior view of a modern building with large glass windows and wooden frames, showing a courtyard with trees, a sports court, and people sitting and walking.
Architectural model of a modern building with a flat roof, wooden accents, and large windows, displayed on a white table at a presentation.
An architectural rendering of a multi-purpose community space with a rooftop basketball court, indoor and outdoor seating areas, a cafe and bar, coworking spaces, a community kitchen, and a rental store, enclosed by red brick walls.
A detailed architectural model of a modern building with multiple sections, made of wood and metal, displayed on a white surface.
Architectural model of a modern building with wooden framing, outdoor stairs, and landscaping.
Architectural rendering of a pickleball facility with multiple courts, lounge area, and elevator, featuring outdoor seating and landscaping.
A detailed architectural floor plan of an office building showing multiple levels and areas such as second floor offices, meeting rooms, call booths, hot desks, outdoor seating, pickleball courts, an elevator, restrooms, an event space, and collabora
An architectural design rendering of a multi-level social cafe with labeled sections including outdoor seating, lounge seating, a coffee bar, a bar, stairwell, and walkways.
Architectural floor plan with labeled areas including bar, mezzanine seating, rented offices, outdoor patio, and office event space.
Architectural floor plan of a recreational facility with labels for various rooms and areas, including key for program features.
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UCLA 2025

Professor: Hitoshi Abe

Contributors: Hanna Wittmack & Grace Collins