The Taipei Performing Arts Center has officially opened to the public within the city’s bustling Shilin Night Market. Designed by OMA in collaboration with KRIS YAO | ARTECH, the cultural destination comprises the spherical 800-seat Globe Playhouse, 1,500-seat Grand Theater, and 800-seat Blue Box, all plugged into the project’s central cube.
“We put three traditional theaters together in a way that offers theater makers completely new opportunities to conceive spectacles and performances,” says OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas. “When we first visited Taipei for the competition, we felt it was a city with an appetite for experiment. This building is a response to that discovery.”
Opaque façades evoke curiosity alongside the animated and illuminated central cube clad in corrugated glass. The central cube—which accommodates the stages, backstages, and support spaces—is elevated from the ground to create a landscaped plaza that leads to a public loop comprising portal windows framing views into each of the three theaters.
The design also supports the synthesis of the Grand Theater and Blue Box into a Super Theater, while the unique proscenium of the Globe Playhouse allows for experimental stage framing. “It is extremely rewarding to see cultural creatives, audiences, and visitors using the building both as we envisioned and in unexpected ways. The theater culture and the vibrant street culture coexist in this public building and around the site,” adds OMA managing partner and architect David Gianotten. “For us, this mix of cultures aptly captures the energy of Taipei, a city always open to changes.”
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