Urban Redevelopment Project at Tainan Main Station Area / Maxthreads
The second prize winning vision for the Urban Redevelopment Project at Tainan Main Station Area responds to the extending aim of positioning Taiwan in general, and Tainan city in particular, as a major historical based tourism destination. Designed by Maxthreads, their strategy attempts to contribute to Taiwan’s economic diversification from its current infrastructure lead planning system. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Hunya Chocolate Museum / J. J. Pan & Partners
Architects: J. J. Pan & Partners
Location: Taoyuan, Taiwan
Project Team: Joshua Jih Pan, Chungwei Su, Steven B.J. Chen, Ady Tsai, Gungo H.Y. Lin Tien-Tso Huang, Wen-Chi Wang, Shiao-Mei Shih, John S.W. Liang
Project Year: 2012
Photographs: Vesper W. S. Hsieh
In Progress: China Steel Corporation Headquarters / Artech Architects
Architects: Kris Yao | Artech Architects
Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Clients: China Steel Corporation (CSC)
Design Team: Willy Yu, Hua-Yi Chang, Nai-Wen Cheng, Jun-Ren Chou, Yen-Hsun Li
Site Area: 11,037 sqm
Lot Coverage Area: 2,590 sqm
Total Floor Area: 81,054
Completion: Expected 2012
Photographs: Jeffrey Cheng
Lanyang Museum / Artech Architects
Architect: Kris Yao | Artech Architects
Location: Yilan County, Taiwan
Clients: Yilan County Government
Design Team: Glen Lu, Hua-Yi Chang, Fei-Chun Ying, Chih-Hao Chiang, Shun-Hui Chen, Tien-Kai Yang, Chii-Chang Jong, Christina Tseng, Lei Wang, Nina Yu, Jun-Ren Chou, Tien-Yu Lo
Site Area: 39,426 sqm
Total Floor Area: 12,472.74 sqm
Completion: March 2010
Photographs: Jeffrey Cheng, Chi-Yi Chang
National Library of Public Information / J. J. Pan & Partners
Architects: J. J. Pan & Partners
Location: Taichung, Taiwan
Project Team: Joshua J. Pan, Jason Chen, Chih Ming Chang, Sheng Tien Yeh, Sheng-ping Lin, Wen Chih Wang, Chien Yuan Liang, Chia Jung Hsieh, Shih-Fang Huang.
Building Contractor: Kong Chou Construction Enterprise
Completion: 2012
Photographs: Wei-Shih Hsieh, JJPan
Multiple Natures / soma
Placing second, behind Sou Fujimoto Architects’ winning proposal, the Austrian practice soma proposed a new tower typology, titled Fibrous Tower of Multiple Natures, for the Taiwan Tower International Competition in Taichung, Taiwan. The conceptual drive for this tower comes from the desire to create a cultural landmark whose associations are multiple and dynamic, adapting with changing ideas about the nature of a skyscraper in an urban environment. Soma writes, “the tower should not state a fixed message, but trigger people to invent their own interpretations of the tower’s meaning”. How does soma accomplish this? Read on to find out.
Yuan Ze University Project / Santiago Calatrava
The world-renowned architect, engineer and artist, Santiago Calatrava was recently commissioned by Yuan Ze University in Taiwan to design an ambitious new building complex for its campus. The ambitious project, which will consist of a Performing Arts Center, a new Art and Design School and the Y.Z. Hsu Memorial Hall, which is dedicated to the university’s founder, Mr. Yu-Ziang Hsu, will mark Mr. Calatrava’s architectural debut in the country. More project description after the break.
OMA’s Taipei Performing Arts Center breaks ground
Nearly two years after OMA was announced winner of a two-stage international competition, the construction of the new Taipei Performing Arts Center has commenced. This ambitious project, led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, generated a lot of debate among architects when it was announced back in 2009 due to its particular form. Morphed by a series of programatic operations, the form intersects three types of theater in order to accommodate a variety of performances.
The main theater, which seats 1,500, is expressed on the exterior as a large sphere while the two smaller theaters, each capable of seating 800, are represented as peripheric cubes. All the stage accommodations are brought together within the central cube, allowing for more flexibility as theaters can be used independently or combined, thus expanding the possibilities for experimental performances – an art which is very strong inTaiwan. At the same time, and in a similar way as OMA’s CCTV building in Beijing, China, a “public loop” channels circulation through the building, exposing the spaces that make the TPAC work, areas typically hidden from the public but are as revealing as the performances themselves.
In this aspect, the building is like a machine at work with its engine exposed, somehow reminding me of OMA’s Prada Transformer – a machine-like building (the anti-blob) that changed its configuration to host different types of events.
The 180 million dollar project is set to be completed in 2015. More details, including sections and updated renders, after the break:
Cicada / Marco Casagrande
Architect: Marco Casagrande
Location: Taipei City, Taiwan
Project Managers: Delphine, Peng Hsiao-Ting / JUT Group, Nikita Wu / C-LAB
Casagrande Laboratory for Cicada: Frank Chen, Yu-Chen Chiu, Shreya Nagrath, Arijit Sen
Measures: 34 m long, 12 m wide, 8 m high
Interior space: 270 sqm
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: AdDa
‘Anemone’ Installation / Oyler Wu Collaborative
Anemone is an art/architectural installation by Oyler Wu Collaborative aimed at weaving together aesthetic experience and tactile engagement, a combination generally considered off limits within the world of contemporary art. All too often, art installations are considered precious, almost sacred objects; while they are meant to be appreciated for their aesthetic beauty, they offer little in terms of human interaction. In other words, they are meant to be seen, not felt. Recognizing that human engagement is one of the key factors in creating a rich experience, Anemone has been designed with the idea of interaction as one of its key design objectives. More images and project description after the break.
Silent Garden / Studio Patricia Meneses
Architects: Studio Patricia Meneses
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Collaborators: Francisco Giménez Carbó, Manuel Rocha Iturbide, Jeanne de Bussac, Gosia Kierzerk, Salomé Ayuso
Photographs: Francisco Giménez Carbó, Jason Kao, Patricia Meneses
China-Taiwan Master Plan for CBD / 10 Design
10 Design architects has recently been awarded a 93 ha Masterplan for a CBD in Pingtan, a New Cross-Strait District for China and It’s Trading Partner, Taiwan. Pingtan is planned as a new commercial hub to drive communication and commercial trade between China and Taiwan. Part of the competition included the design of a new Cross Straits Forum including theatre, convention, exhibition and auxiliary commercial and cultural facilities. More images and project description after the break.
New Taipei City Museum of Art Proposal / Jean-loup BALDACCI & Atelier BORONSKI
Jean-loup BALDACCI & Atelier BORONSKI shared with us their first prize winning proposal for the New Taipei Museum of Art competition. Their aim was to create a field of dreams; a building for the people. Its existence actually extends the park and because it merges street and park it invites a high degree of participation. It is completely accessible for people to walk and even ride bicycles all over. The public can easily ‘take possession’ of this building, even just to come and sit on the grass and enjoy the view as they picnic on these huge pieces of ‘ground’ floating in the sky. But through various openings and glazed apertures the interiors beckon. More images and architects’ description after the break.
New Taipei City Museum of Art Proposal / Federico Soriano Pelaez
Federico Soriano Pelaez shared with us their third prize winning proposal for the New Taipei City Museum of Art. Their aim was to design a museum which contains all museums. A museum which is the entirety of all the museums in the world. They collected 100 of the most important museums of art from around the world. It is architecture as a refined abstraction of a historic landscape. It is a recollection of generic fragments from the plans of the museums from around the world which will be inserted into the Taipei City Museum of Art. More images and project description after the break.
New Taipei City Museum of Art / Volkan Alkanoglu | DESIGN
The New Taipei City Museum of Art proposal by Volkan Alkanoglu | DESIGN seeks to educate and motivate lifestyles through art and culture; thus promoting artistic creations as a moment in a time greater than none. The design incorporates a well planned program distribution emphasizing the important relationship of art as lifestyle and lifestyle as art. More images and architects’ description after the break.
New Taipei City Museum of Art Competition Winners
Recently announced were the winners of the New Taipei City Museum of Art competition. The main objective of this competition was to build a world-class museum of art through a conceptual design. It was to be creative and its visionary schemes are sought in order to give the New Taipei City Museum of Art a fresh look and versatile art exhibition space. The design teams from all over the world were invited to challenge their imagination, pursue new possibilities for modern art museums and help New Taipei City create an artistic icon for the new century! The team of Peter Boronski and Jean-Loup Baldacci was named the first prize winners while Kengo Kuma & Associatesand Federico Soriano Pelaez followed with the second and third place awards. More information on the award winning designs after the break.
Taiwan Tower Competition Proposal / STL Architects
The Taiwan Tower, designed by STL Architects, will act as a monumental building that will frame the new center and provide the entire city with a renewed and iconic identity, such as Eiffel Tower in Paris or The Sydney Opera House. Iconography achieved by challenging the forces of nature, designing an urban symbol, to strengthen people’s feeling of identity towards their city. Twisting the conventional idea of a tower and tilting the complex structure to contextualize the building in a technological era. The importance of symbols to civilization and architecture for people to feel identified with a place by means of an icon. More images and architects’ description after the break.
New Taipei City Museum of Art Proposal / Zerafa Architecture Studio
The New Taipei City Museum of Art (NCArt) should propose a new paradigm for celebrating art in Taipei, one that brings lifestyle, art, recreation and education together to celebrate the vibrant cultural identity of the community. The fusion of art with all aspects of one’s daily experience is driven by ideas about the intrinsic relationship between art and life relevant in Taiwan’s popular contemporary culture. The new museum seeks to embody these ideas and provide an iconic venue for the spontaneous unfolding of contemporary life.
Here’s the proposal Zerafa Architecture Studio presented for this project.
New Taipei City Museum of Art Proposal / PA Studio
PA (Process-based Architecture) Studio shared with us their proposal for New Taipei City Museum of Art, which won an honorable mention. Their design includes a huge cube on an urban plaza. The interior space of this suspended cube is integrated and has not been divided to specified floors as the usual buildings. It consists of several moving galleries where the exterior walls are also good places for displaying the art works. More images and architects’ description after the break.
