Department of Cultural Affairs

By Psyche Cho
STAFF REPORTER

The Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) will become the new landmark in Asia on its completion, commented President Ma Ying-jeou at the groundbreaking ceremony for the theater complex February 16 in Taipei.

The three-in-one theater, designed by the international architecture partnership OMA, reflects the ambition to overturn the conventional concept of theater. 

The construction site covers an area of 2 hectares at the former location of the Shilin Night Market. The entire facility will consist of one grand theater that accommodates 1,500 seats and two smaller ones each with 800 seats.

We are excited about the project, which is very experimental and will exist compatibly with the night market nearby, said OMA's Partner-in-charge for the project, Rem Koolhass. OMA beat 135 other entries from 24 countries to win the bid for the project in January 2009.

"Architecture is the key to turning Taipei into a beautiful city," said Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-pin at the ceremony. He added that OMA's keen observation of the vibrant and densely-populated area of Taipei won them the bid. 

OMA derived the idea from a kind of two-flavored hot pot that is often sold in Taiwan's night markets.

"The flexible configurations of the theatres allow unimagined scenarios, incessantly stimulating theatrical experiments," says Koolhass in a statement.

Cultural construction, said Ma, tops the to-do-list for his future plans. "Engineering can enlarge a city, but only culture can make a city great," he said.

"With our rich Chinese culture and vibrant creativity in society, Taiwan will develop a significant feature that is unlike any other," noted Ma.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2015.