Artist Cheng Tsung Feng has created a striking architectural installation called "All Together Under the Umbrella," transforming the traditional Hakka oil-paper umbrella into three monumental canopies that serve as both cultural symbol and functional shelter. The 46-square-meter pavilion, completed in 2023 in Xiaxi, Taiwan, demonstrates how traditional craftsmanship can be reimagined at an architectural scale.
For the Hakka people, the oil-paper umbrella carries profound cultural meaning beyond its practical function. It serves as a symbol of wholeness, reunion, and destiny, representing the belief that life's encounters are guided by both chance and meaningful connections. The cultural significance is embedded even in the Chinese character for umbrella (傘), which contains repeated appearances of the character for person (人), symbolizing the gathering, reliance, and interdependence between people.
Feng, who is renowned for translating traditional crafts into contemporary structural aesthetics, drew inspiration from this layered symbolism to create his central motif. The artist expanded the umbrella concept into three radiating canopies that unfold horizontally like protective shields, forming a large-scale installation where visitors can step beneath, pause, and share moments of rest together.
The design process began with Feng's meticulous study of the traditional Hakka oil-paper umbrella itself, examining its delicate components, mathematical proportions, and ingenious joinery techniques. Through careful acts of deconstruction and recomposition, he reimagined the skeletal ribs of three umbrellas, interlacing them into a sheltering space that embraces and enfolds those who enter.
The installation features a central pocket garden surrounded by circular wooden benches, creating a balanced relationship between human presence and natural growth. The canopy is crafted from perforated canvas that serves multiple functions: during daylight hours, it breathes with natural light and air circulation; at night, it glows softly like a traditional lantern; and during rainfall, its angled surfaces naturally guide water away, preserving the umbrella's essential everyday function while amplifying it to an architectural scale.
From the central axis, the three umbrella forms radiate outward in a carefully orchestrated pattern, creating a kaleidoscopic geometry that shifts and changes with each viewing perspective. Visitors standing within the installation often describe feeling as though they have entered a fantastical spacecraft drifting quietly through the cosmos—a space that is simultaneously wondrous, intimate, and serene.
By reconstructing elements of Hakka tradition into a spatial form, Feng invites audiences not merely to observe the artwork from a distance, but to actively inhabit and experience the work firsthand. This participatory approach allows visitors to directly experience the atmosphere of gathering, protection, and imaginative escape that the installation embodies, bridging the gap between traditional cultural practices and contemporary architectural expression.
