5 things to know about Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts – the world’s largest performance complex

Dec 11 , 2018

A spectacular performance being held at Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts, the world’s largest centre for the performing arts, which opened in October.

The US$360 million centre, inspired by the look of banyan trees, has four big indoor spaces and an outdoor theatre and covers a 36,000-square-metre area

The impressive-looking National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts – also called Weiwuying – which opened in Taiwan in October, is the largest performing arts centre in the world.

The project, which was built at a cost of NT$10.7 billion (US$360 million) over eight years, is the most significant cultural project in Taiwan for more than two decades.

Here are 5 things you should know about this extraordinary building.

1. How big is it?

The project covers a total area of 141,000 square metres (1.5 million square feet), set across the 470,000-square-metre Weiwuying Metropolitan Park, which was used as a military base until 1979. The spectacular rectangular building, which is 225 metres (740 feet) long and 160 metres wide, covers 36,000 square metres.

Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts, which took eight years to build and opened in October.

The sinuous canopy covers four indoor performance spaces – the Concert Hall, with 2,236 seats; Opera House (1,981 seats); Play House (1,210 seats); and Recital Hall (434 seats). There is an outdoor theatre set on one side of the roof, linking the building with the park.

The outdoor theatre sits to one side of the roof canopy at Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts.

2. What are the architectural design themes and features?