National Taichung Theater

National Taichung Theater is a building complex consisting of three parts, namely the Grand Theater with 2014 seats, the Playhouse with 800 seats and the Black Box with 200 seats. In addition to the three parts, there are the Art Plaza, the Arts & Creative Workshop, restaurants and cafes. Each floor is provided with public areas connecting with the landscape of the park and the Roof Garden. All spaces are connected together with 3-Dimentional curved surface structure, – Catenoids – creating a network of vertical and horizontal tubular voids. Nowadays, we can easily enjoy the fascinating show of high quality video and audio with the assist of home theatre. Therefore, asking the meaning of the new theatre is equal to enquiring the essence of performing arts, which is actually to rethink the nature of the architectural design since the performing arts are inseparable with the architectural spaces.
Our strategy is to use the sound cave as a spatial concept. Performing arts are spatial integration of all energies from the audience, actor, body, art, music and information; it is also the fruition of vital human communication and interaction. All spaces are integrated organically and actively by the sound cave, through all bodily sensations. National Taichung Theater is interpreted not only as a “Theatre Complex”, but also as a “Combination of Diverse Activities”. Thus, the whole complex becomes a cultural creation hub full of charm.
In recent years, the theatre buildings have been too rigid due to preconceptions of the “textbook” technical specifications on conventional theatre designs. In essence, the theatre should be a place where people gather, sing and dance, and a space full of activities and surprises. Imagine ancient explores passing through a narrow tunnel, and a magical square appears before their eyes. They would surely exclaim “Let’s gather and call this a theater. It can hold 2014 of us! This calls for a celebration! ”Only in the National Taichung Theater can people experience that the theater is born from a unique cave.
Unfortunately there is no proper cave and we have to build one. However, if it is built blindly, the space will be beyond our control and we do not intend to create a complicated space even though we can excavate such a cave. The form of a cave should emerge from a new system as a result, rather than vice versa. Therefore, the system we developed is named as Emerging Grid, which is a non-linear geometrical system, creating an organic and complex space through simple and flexible rules. The 3D continuous curved surface is formed by manipulating the multi-layered 2D grids. By manipulating the emerging grid, we integrate the functions of the theater into the sound cave. Unlike ordinary caves, the sound cave is divided spatially into two zones by a thin membrane. A zone that is far away and yet connected, and a zone that is close by and yet separated by the thin membrane. Hence, new relationships between spaces and amongst human being are formed.
The application of computer digital technology allows the nonlinear system to become a reality. However, our purpose is to create a extremely realistic spatial experience through the primitive body. The construction process is also very realistic. By using primitive materials such as steel, bend each bar by hand, while the concrete is being cast.