OMA's Taipei theatre complex tops out

The OMA designed Taipei Performing Arts Centre –a theatre complex centred around a transparent cube– has topped out today in the Taiwanese capital.

Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy of OMA.

The OMA-designed Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) tops out today. Consisting of three theatres plugged into a central cube, TPAC encourages experimental theatre production, while a public loop invites wider engagement in the performing arts.

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.

CREDITS.

Partners in charge.- Rem Koolhaas, David Gianotten.

Associate in charge.- Adam Frampton. Design team: Ibrahim Elhayawan with: Yannis Chan, Hin-Yeung Cheung, Jim Dodson, Inge Goudsmit, Alasdair Graham, Vincent Kersten, Chiaju Lin, Vivien Liu, Kai Sun Luk, Kevin Mak, Slobodan Radoman, Roberto Requejo, Saul Smeding, Elaine Tsui, Viviano Villarreal, Casey Wang, Leonie Wenz. Competition team: partners / designers: Rem Koolhaas, David Gianotten, Ole Scheeren, and senior architects: André Schmidt, Mariano Sagasta and Adam Frampton, with: Erik Amir, Josh Beck, Jean-Baptiste Bruderer, David Brown, Andrew Bryant, Steven Chen, Dan Cheong, Ryan Choe, Antoine Decourt, Mitesh Dixit, Pingchuan Fu, Alexander Giarlis, Richard Hollington, Shabnam Hosseini, Sean Hoo, Takuya Hosokai, Miguel Huelga, Nicola Knop, Chiaju Lin, Sandra Mayritsch, Vincent McIlduff, Alexander Menke, Ippolito Pestellini, Gabriele Pitacco, Shiyun Qian, Joseph Tang, Agustin Perez-Torres, Xinyuan Wang, Ali Yildirim, Patrizia Zobernig.

COLLABORATORS. Local architect: Artech Architects. Theatre consultant: dUCKS scéno, CSI. Interior designer: Inside Outside. Landscape designer: Inside Outside. Acoustic consultant: DHV. Structural engineer: Arup Structure, Evergreen. MEP engineer: Arup MEP, Heng Kai, IS Lin. Fire engineer: Arup Fire, TFSC. Lighting consultant: Chroma 33. Facade engineer: ABT, CDC. Sustainability consultant: Arup Building Physics, Segreene. Geotechnical engineer: Sino Geotech. Traffic consultant: EECI Traffic. Model: Vincent de Rijk, RJ Models. Photography: Frans Parthesius, Iwan Baan. Animation: Artefactory.

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Overview. Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy of OMA.

Sections. Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) by OMA. Image courtesy of OMA.

Diagram. Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) by OMA. Image courtesy of OMA. Image courtesy of OMA.

Rendering. Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) by OMA. Image courtesy of OMA. Image courtesy of OMA.

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More information

OMA. Office for Metropolitan Architecture

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. AMO, a research and design studio, applies architectural thinking to domains beyond. OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.

OMA’s completed projects include Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles (2020), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto (2005), and the Seattle Central Library (2004).

AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a colored "barcode" flag, combining the flags of all member states, which was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced Countryside: The Future, a research exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including Public Works (2012), Cronocaos (2010), and The Gulf (2006); and for Fondazione Prada, including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its publication Elements. Other notable projects are Roadmap 2050, a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.

Published on: August 27, 2014

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