On this occasion, our attention falls on an object known as The Lantern in the Paddy Field, a curious construction by the Chinese engineering company Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited (HDEC, part of the Power Construction Corporation of China, or PowerChina), which is “involved in Hydropower & Renewable Energy, Urban & Rural construction, Ecology & Environment”; in collaboration with the design studio coLAB (“a dual-laboratory for art and architectural practice (…) to study and amplify nature and culture in the built environment”). It is a landmark structure rising in a distinctly rural context of rice fields, in the town of Miaohouzhou, Fenghua District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China.
The Lantern is a 6-storey, 23m high tower, with 840m2 gross floor area whose sole function, beyond the provision of a discreet café on its ground floor, is to encourage locals to enjoy leisure and recreation through contemplation of the surrounding landscape. In any case, HDEC describes it as an architecture that provides “a new scenic viewpoint and social hub for the local countryside”. The justification for its location in this eminently agricultural environment is probably to be found in the fact that, as the engineering company points out, it is the “central area of the national modern agricultural demonstration zone with high-standard farmland”.
But there is more: as HDEC points out, “with the development of urbanization, a large number of people have migrated from rural areas to cities, resulting in an increasing distancing between people and the natural environment“. Therefore, The Lantern justifies itself as a project that “promotes the connection between visitors and the natural world“. From this point on, we understand much better why the avant-garde tower of modern architecture becomes a conspicuous element above the flat, sprawling rice fields.
Yet the Lantern “spirals up from the rice fields like a sculpture, with triangular elements and white membranes defining its clean design language, giving it a strong presence on the rural land”, which is “an abstract expression of mature rice spikes”. Oh, and it is open to everyone, “including visitors in wheelchairs”, who can reach its summit thanks to the lift that runs through its heart. Finally, when night falls, the inner light pierces the membranes and, in the darkness, the observation tower becomes “a hazy wonderland on the earth, gentle and mysterious”.
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