Taiwanese architect Cheng-Tsung FENG took inspiration from traditional oil-paper umbrellas to create an airy park pavilion that has a pocket garden and benches for people to gather and relax inside. The structure takes an umbrella’s design and turns it on its head—well, more literally on its side. The shape appears as if three giant umbrellas are lying together on the grass to create a shelter underneath, “radiating canopies unfolding horizontally like protective shields,” describes FENG’s website about the project.
The pavilion, made of wood, iron and PVC-coated mesh fabric, covers 46 square meters and is more than 10 meters tall and wide (495 square feet, 33 feet).
“In the daytime,” the architect’s notes say, “it breathes with light and air; at night, it glows softly like a lantern; and in the rain, its angled surfaces naturally guide water away, preserving the umbrella’s everyday function while amplifying it at architectural scale.”
FENG’s inspiration was multifaceted, from the umbrella’s components and joinery to its mathematical proportions. This traditional umbrella has cultural significance to the Hakka people, FENG’s website says, symbolizing wholeness and reunion. The Chinese character representing the word “umbrella” contains multiple instances of the character for “person,” the page says, “suggesting the gathering, reliance and interdependence between people.”
Project Name: All Together Under the Umbrella
Location: Qingpu Park No.11, Qingpu Exhibition Zone, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Architect: Cheng-Tsung FENG
Design: Chan Wei HSU, Sheng WANG
Construction: Weige Interior
Structural engineer: Jianquan Engineering Consultants
Fabric: DERFLEX PVC-coated mesh banner material
Images: FIXER Photographic Studio
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