Taipei Performing Arts Center Tops Out

Taipei’s mayor Hau Lung-pin, together with representatives from the city government, OMA’s design team led by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, and design partner KRIS YAO | ARTECH in Taipei led by Kris Yao and Willy Yu, take part in today’s topping out ceremony.

TPAC’s design is comprised of a 1,500-seat Grand Theatre, an 800-seat Multiform Theatre, and an 800-seat Proscenium Playhouse. Plugged into a transparent central cube, each theatre can function independently while sharing backstage space and mechanical facilities. However the Grand Theatre and the Multiform Theatre can also be combined into a Super Theatre with a 100-metre long space for experimental theatrical possibilities.

Rem Koolhaas: “This arrangement allows the stages to be coupled for unsuspected scenarios and uses. The design offers the advantages of specificity with the freedoms of the undefined.”

Running through TPAC is a public circulation path that allows glimpses of performances and backstage workings. The central cube of TPAC, lifted from the ground, liberates the space at ground level to create a plaza for public activities, drawing more people into the performing arts center.

David Gianotten: “With its superstructure finished, TPAC’s connection with the surrounding urban fabric becomes apparent. The performing arts center responds to the adjacent Jiantan MRT station and the night market, channeling the energy of the informal public life of the surroundings into the site and the future building, intensifying their vitality.”

Façade construction of TPAC will begin in October 2014. The building envelope consists of two primary materials: corrugated glass wrapping the central cube, and large aluminum panels cladding the three theatres. TPAC main construction is scheduled for completion in 2015. OMA won the design competition for Taipei Performing Arts Center in January 2009.