A triangular form rising out of the rice fields in rural China, LIN Architecture reimagines a pumping station as an observatory and viewing pavilion. With the rural landscape garnering attention in Chinese architecture, many architects have taken to the ‘virgin land’ of paddy fields, creating sculptural works that serve as gathering spaces, contemplative retreats, or simply as totems rendered in concrete. Akin to the land art movement of the 1960s and ’70s, these works often probe the relationship between nature and the built, with the built a seeming figure of permanence in a shifting, undulating natural landscape.

For the pavilion design, the architects state that they made “use of the identity of the space to provide villagers and tourists with both endless and fragmented views of the fields at the same time.” Preserving the idea of the humble pump house as one of the only structures in the sparse surroundings, the designers aimed to create a building that would navigate between being a static guide for the villagers working in the fields and being a novel attraction for offbeat tourists.

The pavilion, designed to serve as a viewing platform, bears openings and cut-outs designed by the team taking into account the context it sits in. Voids open up, and walls enclose a visitor, seeming to come in from nowhere. As one enters the narrow space, feeling enclosed by the walls, a skylight opens up, revealing the blue sky and letting in natural light. As that disappears, a slit emerges, offering fleeting views of the swaying grass. Finally, the visitor is led to the platform, where the interstice allows them to take in the horizon all at once.

Elaborating on the pavilion’s architecture, the design team says, “Although the constituent elements are common to architecture, they are organised unconventionally, such as shadow walls with odd proportions, suspended platforms, broken staircases, sloping sidewalls, half-arched ceilings, low side windows, and skylights with only a single slit.” The interiors of the quaint structure then feel almost like being in an etching by MC Escher, known for abstracting and convoluting space in his illustrations. In some ways, the unassuming yet impressive concrete structure is also reminiscent of Sun Tunnels by Nancy Holt, an iconic artwork from the land art movement. Like Holt’s concrete tubes that framed the sun, with small holes throwing discs of light on the people inside them, the interstitial spaces of the pavilion frame and ensconce one from the landscape.

The form of the building and the various architectural elements in it are abstracted from the local architecture of the village nearby, as the architects explain. With its sloping roof as a reference to thatched structures and its calculated openings, it seems to blend into and stand starkly against its backdrop. Further, its abstract form lends it a poetic quality achievable only through concrete architecture. The use of concrete is also a sign by the designers of the permanence of the structure they envisioned.

Instigating a dialogue between architectural space and the environment, the pavilion not only protects the dweller from the outside but also offers a sense of connection to it. The natural world outside its realm shifts and transforms, with spring turning into summer into autumn; green to gold to burnt red. Natural processes like the rain add their patina to the pristine white façade, but the pavilion remains in the fields, an intriguing totem against the idea of impermanence.

Project Details

Name: Concrete Pavilion - pumping station in the field
Location: Botou Village, Eryuan County, Yunnan Province, China
Year of completion: 2023
Area:
Site area: 100 sqm 
Building area: 50 sqm
Design team:
Architects: LIN Architecture
Lead Designer: Lin Lifeng
Teaching and research support and material support: RAC studio
Design Participation and Site Construction: Chai Zongrui, Chen Zhitong, Xing Zhihao, Zhang Jingyue, Tang Ziqi, Wang Churui, Xu Yemeng, Wang Yating, Ye Feihao, Qian Jiayun, Yu Ziyang, Hao Yixin, Wang Jiasen, Zhou Yanyang, Yang Yufei, Zhu Yangyang, Xu Jiayi, Zhou Xinyue, Huang Qi'ao, Xu Yuanhong
Consultants:
Constructor: Shanghai Mulokang
Wooden Structure Construction: Engineering Co, Ltd, Zhongyue Tiangong Group Co, Ltd, Zhongshui Huachuang
International Engineering: Design Consultant Co.