How is the tea room different from other forms of architecture?

The tea room not only contrasts Western architecture, it is quite different from Japanese wood architecture, which is usually grand and ornamented. In fact the tea room is primarily derived in spirit from the Zen monastery. Most great tea-masters were students of Zen, and so used Zen concepts for the tea room. For example, the size of the tea room is dictated by a passage in a religious text. The garden path was designed to remove a guest from the city or home environment, to sever any connection to the outside world. Some tea-masters aimed for a feeling of loneliness; others, for a feeling of spiritual reawakening and an appreciation of natural beauty.