The 9th Worldwide Landmark -National Taichung Theater ⋆ 貓女Teresa

I‘ve been longing to visit the National Taichung Theater for a long time. From the time the National Taichung Theater was built, I kept following the news and was shocked again and again by its mysterious cave modeling and the engineering of sound transmission. It became an artwork in my heart.

Although I heard of some design flaws after the National Taichung Theater opened, such as the inconvenience of performers, the National Opera House is still a major innovation in the construction industry. These shortcomings do not shake their position in my mind.

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The National Taichung Theater, located near the city hall, is surrounded by the most advanced luxury apartments in Taichung. This art space with a lot of greenery space is like being surrounded by a concrete jungle. I feel as if when I was drowning in the water, someone handed over a breathing tube. I instantly felt the fresh air pouring into my lungs. How wonderful……

The glass wall reflects the surrounding buildings and transforms the surrounding scenery into an element of its own. The twisted building image on the glass is ingeniously blended with the curve of the National Taichung Theater. Quite interesting.

內容摘要

❤️ Spatial Distribution

source: official website

This is a sketch of the architect Toyo Ito, which shows the spatial distribution of the entire National Taichung Theatre. The main performance halls “Grand Theater” and “Middle Theater” are located on the second floor. There is a “black box small theater” on the underground 2nd floor to provide some experimental performances.

On the fifth floor, there is a very special display space, named Tutu hall. In this dreamy space full of arcs, the artist must show their creativity to break through the layout of the traditional exhibition and make his works more prominent.

On the sixth floor, there is a sky garden that resembles the surface of the universe which makes me think of the animated scene of Miyazaki Hayao. The Sky Garden is also a performance space suitable for open-air concerts or outdoor movies.

There are some cultural goods shopping spaces and restaurants on the other floor. Some people think that a national-level theater should not be turned into a messy shopping mall. Some people think that such an arrangement can make full use of the venue when there is no performance, and the public won’t feel the National Taichung Theater is unattainable.

❤️ Aerial Panorama

Take a look at the aerial panorama day and night. The elements of the curved arc are not only used in the building, but also in the outdoor venues around. The pattern which looks like the tree rings in the lower-left corner of the above picture is actually an outdoor theater. It can be used in conjunction with the small theater in the building that becomes a stage full of creativity. It is a special experience to sit on the grass and watch the show outdoors.

The National Taichung Theater looks shining at night. The fountain in front of the building becomes colorful. The surrounding buildings are full of light that you will feel like being surrounded by stars.

source: 台中觀光旅遊網

❤️ Mockup

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source: 國家歌劇院官網

The National Taichung Theater is hailed by the architectural community as “the most difficult house in the world”. You can imagine how difficult it is from the shape of the ear-shaped culvert. In order to confirm the feasibility of the construction method, they chose the most complicated concave culvert of the whole building structure on the fifth floor to make a 1:1 mockup, in order to confirm the construction method, precision, and structural strength are in compliance with regulations, safety, and quality. The mockup gave birth to this dreamlike National Taichung Theater, and has become the “ninth new landmark in the world.”

The beautiful ear-shaped culvert reminds me of the original single-celled biological amoeba. I think this shape represents the original desire for art and the origin of human creativity. From the professional point of view of sound transmission, this bilaterally symmetrical concave culvert forms a good resonance space. An opera singer was invited to sing in this concave culvert. Through the conduction of the curved wall, the people in the outdoor plaza could hear the beautiful song without passing through the microphone.

source: [光舞紀] 2014歌劇院光影藝術節 – 3D光雕之夜空拍之美youtube影片

❤️ Wind Bottle House

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No matter the concrete walls or the glass walls are the shapes of gourd bottle. Mr. Ito named it “wine bottle house”. I really like the meaning of this name. Imagine the joy of being a little drunk, it’s similar to the intoxicating feeling when you listen to a high-level concert or watch an art show.

The glass wall of the front door becomes a large advertising billboard. You can know the current exhibition in the theater at a glance. It’s quite clever. It makes the appearance of building prettier if it’s well designed.

The large flat concrete wall is the best projection screen which can be provided to the computer artist to show their creativity of the 3D light sculpture projection.

❤️ intoxicating stream

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Toyo Ito is famous for its conceptual architecture. One of his architectural features is that he considers it important the symbiosis between architecture and nature. I also wrote an introduction about Taipei New Horizon before where you can see that Mr. Ito’s concept is to integrate architecture and nature all the way.

Around the National Taichung Theater, there is a meandering waterway that extends into the interior of the National Opera and breaks the boundaries between the interior and exterior of the National Taichung Theater. This design also represents that art is shed in our lives, and we can indulge in the drunkenness that art brings to us every day. It’s the meaning of echoing the idea of “wine bottle house”.

❤️ Fountain

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The fountain in front of the square is quite special. It is not a pool, but a shallow pond in a flat plane. The surrounding environment reflects through the water and blends with the color of small blue gravel which makes it look like a large circular canvas with sparkling light.

❤️ Outdoor Greenery

Many young people like to sit on the turf next to the National Opera, enjoy the wind and chat. In addition to the park, it has become one of the places where Taichung residents like to spend their holidays.

Are you curious about the architectural miracle? I will take you inside of the National Taichung Theater on the next post to show you how magical of what so-called 「sound cave」is. Stay tuned!