The National Arts Center is also called Wayyin, after the city park where it is located, created on the site of a military base. Of its 64 hectares, 10 hectares were allocated for an arts center, of which 7 hectares are eventually occupied by green areas, and the remaining three are actually a building spot.
The building is inspired by the image of the banyan tree, characteristic of subtropical Taiwan: thanks to the additional shoots-trunks, its crown can sometimes reach a huge area. In the shade, you can arrange a meeting, a celebration or place street actors and spectators. Banyan trees also grew on the territory of a closed military base until the moment when they began to turn it into a new recreational zone.
This is how the Banyanovaya Plaza inspired by this tree appeared under the building - a public space and a kind of lobby for an arts center. The floor is self-leveling, the “ceiling” is sheathed with sheet steel using shipbuilding technology, and the architects sought to resemble a cargo ship (Kaohsiung is one of the largest ports in the world), and not a “luxury yacht”. Therefore, the seams are clearly visible, there are fasteners on which you can hang lamps, flags or banners, instead of the waterline - elevation marks above sea level. 12 round chandeliers create a festive mood after sunset.
Four halls, each with its own foyer, grow out of "banyan trunks". The largest is the black and red opera hall. 2260 spectators were seated according to the traditional plan - a horseshoe with tiers of balconies. The acoustic scheme is designed for the performance of the Western repertoire in foreign languages for Taiwanese, therefore, special attention was paid to the maximum clarity of the sound. At the same time, the hall can be acoustically and technically adapted for staging Chinese operas.
The concert hall for 1981 was the most challenging: the Xu Acoustique acoustics specialists made a 1:10 scale model during the work, and various checks and experiments at the Kaohsiung Arts Center took nine months between completion and the official opening. As in most modern concert halls of large size, a terraced arrangement ("vineyard") with a stage in the center was chosen: it was invented after the war by Hans Scharoun for the famous building of the Berlin Philharmonic. In addition to the ability to place all spectators close to the performers (in Kaohsiung, the distance from the back rows to the conductor does not exceed 30 meters) and the democratic openness of the layout, this option also dispenses with balconies, that is, for all listeners, the sound is reflected directly from the acoustic ceiling panels. Here, light oak upholstery and golden upholstery of the chairs were chosen, as in the chamber concert hall for 434 people. The transformable theater hall with 1234 seats is designed for ballet and drama performances, as well as Chinese opera; the upholstery there is Mecanoo blue.
In addition to four halls, the building houses an open amphitheater, a library, training and rehearsal dance and music studios, two conference rooms (100 and 200 seats) and decoration workshops. The total area of the building is 140,000 m2, the budget is $ 366 million. The Kaohsiung Arts Center has become Taiwan's third big theater, after
Taipei National Theater and Concert Hall (1987, architect Yang Chocheng) and Taichung National Theater (2014 and 2016, Toyo Ito).
