A Performing Arts Centre by OMA will be built in Taipei

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) won first prize in the competition for the design of a theater complex in Taipei, Taiwan. The proposal by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren was selected by an international jury from 135 competing designs from 24 countries.
The project includes the creation of a theater hall with a capacity of 1,500 seats and two smaller halls for 800 spectators. The volumes of the halls extend from a central cube, which houses the stage facilities. Each stage can be used independently; however, it will also be possible to connect them for various experimental performances. The theater facilities inside the cube will be open to the views of visitors, which is atypical for theaters. The central cube will be placed on a pedestal that will preserve the existing marketplace.
OMA will collaborate with the local architectural office Artech for the realization of this complex with 40,000 m² of floor area. The stage was designed in collaboration with Ducks Sceno, and engineering was done in partnership with Arup. The completion of the center is planned for 2013, with a budget of 3.8 billion Taiwanese dollars (approximately 90 million EUR). City officials expect the center to support the development of local artistic groups and would like to make Taipei an international center for performing arts.
The project is being developed under the leadership of Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren. The competition team also included OMA partner André Schmidt, architects Adam Frampton, Mariano Sagasta, and others. Under the leadership of Koolhaas and Scheeren, past projects have included the CCTV building and the TVCC cultural center in Beijing, as well as Prada stores in New York and Los Angeles.