MACHIAI CONSTRUCTION – KARL BAREIS – July 18 & 25, 2026

Machiai Construction
With Karl Bareis

July 18 & 25, 2026 – Saturday (2 Days)
9:30am – 3:30pm PT
HAKONE ESTATE & GARDENS, Saratoga, California
Limited to 6 students (In-Person)
$450

This class is sponsored by Hakone Foundation and Kezuroukai USA.

Please note that we have been considering releasing these classes at a future date via streaming and/or download. By signing up for class, you are agreeing to be recorded and included in these future recordings.

Focus of Class

Reconstruction and installation of a pre-fabricated sukiya-style(数奇屋) machiai waiting pavilion. This term refers to the carpentry style developed in the late sixteenth century using small-scale peeled cedar logs as the framing members of detached buildings with a roji (tea-garden). The Hakone Roji was constructed in 2016 with the help of seven volunteers from Japan. That garden has been waiting for its traditional machiai for the past decade. Materials were sorted out with the help of Bay Area craftsmen, and the major posts were harvested in 2024. The basic round-on-round structure will be raised during the session — bench, walls, and roof frame attached. For those attending, the techniques of harvesting and processing native trees will be described as well.

The typical Japanese building team would include experts in mud plaster walls. Some of this process will be covered in subsequent classes offered in the Fall to Winter months.