Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

The city government held a press conference on August 20 to announce that the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), together with its partner Artech Inc., have won the tender for Taipei Performing Arts Center. Mayor Hau Lung-bin hopes that the outstanding team will turn the “Cube” into an important landmark of Taipei.

Hau expressed his hope that the new building will play an important role in enhancing the city’s landscape, making Taipei even more beautiful. He referred to the Sydney Opera House as an example, pointing out that the venue is not only the landmark of Sydney, but also a symbol of Australia. Approximately seven million people visited the opera house in 2008 alone, with 1.2 million individuals buying tickets to attend performances at the theater. The Sydney Opera House brought an estimated NT$1.8 billion in business opportunities to the local tourism industry and creative industries.

According to the mayor, Taipei is the Chinese world’s powerhouse of creativity, being the home of major performance groups such as Cloud Gate, Performance Workshop, and Ming Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera Company. The new center will provide local artists with an attractive performance venue and attract top-class performance groups from around the world to the city.

The Taipei Performing Arts Center will be located on Chengde Road, near the MRT Jiantan Station and the Shilin Night Market. The Cube will house three performance halls, including a main hall with 1500 seats and two medium-size halls with 800 seats each.

The City expects to complete the ambitious project in 2014.