Stakeholders described it as a “place for the cultural creatives and the public to explore new possibilities in performing arts.”
The Taipei Performing Arts Center located at the Taiwan capital’s Shilin Night Market has finally opened to the public.
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The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), which designed the center, said the building is compact and flexible. It consists of a spherical 800-seat Globe Playhouse, a 1,500-seat Grand Theater, and an 800-seat Blue Box.
These are all plugged into a central cube. The said cube accommodates the stages, backstages, and support spaces of the three theaters.
Altogether, the Grand Theater and Blue Box couple to form a Super Theater. OMA describes this as a “massive space with factory quality for unsuspected performances.”
“We put three traditional theatres together in a way that offers theater makers completely new opportunities to conceive spectacles and performances. We are proud to be part of the effort to realize the performing arts center, which became possible only with the knowledge, creativity, and perseverance of the city, collaborators, and architects,” OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas said.
Experimental theater
Moreover, the Globe Playhouse has a unique proscenium that allows experimentation with stage framing. The auditoria also have opaque facades that appear as “mysterious elements” that dock against the animated and illuminated central cube.
Finally, the central cube lifts off the ground to create a landscaped plaza. Here, the Public Loop has portal windows open to views inside the three theaters. It runs through the infrastructure and spaces for performing arts production.
“The theatre culture and the vibrant street culture coexist in this public building and around the site. For us, this mix of cultures aptly captures the energy of Taipei, a city always open to changes,” OMA managing partner-architect David Gianotten concluded.
Banner Photo by Chris Stowers and Shephotoerd via OMA’s Instagram.
