THEATERS
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The TPAC’s interior theater layouts were designed with experimental methods that ended up naturally creating a landmark building.
Concentrated energy from the city, crowds of people from the metro station, and shoppers from nearby retail districts converge here, forming a combination of dense urban clusters which consist of never-ending flows of people through three main points: the night market, metro station, and TPAC.
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Full-sized Wagner Orchestra Pit——Grand Theater
Richard Wagner has an important role in the history of art development.
Apart from introducing the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art), he also expanded the size of opera orchestras to pursue ultimate excellence in performances. While normal orchestras have around 70 members, Wagner’s ideal orchestra pit requires accommodation for at least 120 musicians.
This influenced imaginative concepts and musical standards for theater spaces in later generations. The Grand Theater at the Taipei Performing Arts Center boasts the largest orchestra pit area in Taiwan; in fact, it can accommodate a full orchestra pit built to Wagner’s specifications. It can also be used for various types of performances, creating an impeccable acoustic feast.
The Architect
Rem Koolhaas was born in 1944 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
He founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in 1975 along with fellow architects Elia Zenghelis, Zoe Zenghelis, and Madelon Vriesendorp. He graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and published his first book, Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan, in 1978. Koolhaas authored the book S,M,L,XL (1995), which documents OMA’s work through the format of an “architectural novel”.
He leads operations of OMA and AMO (a think tank affiliated with OMA), reaching into areas beyond architecture, including media, politics, renewable energy, and fashion. Koolhaas has received many international awards, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2000), Praemium Imperiale (2003), Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (Leone d'oro alla carriera) (2010), the Royal Institute of British Architects Charles Jencks Award (2012), and the Johannes Vermeer Award (2013).
Koolhaas is now a Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. In 2014, he directed the 14th Venice Biennale International Architecture with the chosen theme Fundamentals.
David Gianotten is the Managing Partner – Architect of OMA. He oversees the overall organizational and financial management, business strategy, and growth of OMA in all markets, in addition to his own architectural portfolio.
As partner-in-charge, David currently leads the design and construction of projects in different regions, including the Taipei Performing Arts Center; the masterplan of Rotterdam’s Feyenoord City; Amsterdam’s Bajes Kwartier—conversion of a large 1960s prison complex into a new neighborhood with 1,350 apartments; and VDMA—transformation of an unused site with industrial heritage in Eindhoven into a mixed-use urban hub.
David joined OMA in 2008, launched OMA’s Hong Kong office in 2009, and became partner in 2010. He led OMA’s portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region for seven years. In 2015, he returned to the Netherlands to oversee OMA globally as Managing Partner – Architect. Before joining OMA, he was Principal Architect at SeARCH in the Netherlands.
