Environment.
The project is based on a competition for a Performing Arts Centre (PAC) in Shilin district in northern Taipei. The proposition is thought to be an extension of a cultural axis which ranges from the Palace Museum in the north to the National University in the south of the city. The numerous further museums and cultural institutions along this axis are connected by the TRTS Metro Line as well as by Zhongshan North Road.
The plot is in a peninsula - like situation surrounded by busy, up to 8 lane roads and in direct neighbourhood to Shilin TRTS Station. Currently the site is occupied by Shilin Market building which however shall give way to the new development. In the north the property borders on the grounds of a high school. In the northeast of the plot there is Shilin Night Market which reaches out in its significance as an attractor of urban night live far beyond the borders of Shilin district. In the daytime it mainly serves the supply of residents in the quarters south and west.
As the plot is situated in the focus of these urban functions it is of major importance not to hinder movement in between but rather facilitate direct connections.
Typology.
The PAC shall comprise 3 theatres which vary in character and size. Of major concern is the relation of stage and auditorium and its impact on the relation of performer and audience. The spectrum thereby shall range from the formal, strict separation of audience and performance space, as one can observe in operas of western imprint, to the total amalgamation of spaces, like for instance in street performances. When one looks at the first case the radius of the relation of performer and audience is 180 °, both spaces are clearly separated by the stages edge. In the second case the performer is surrounded by the spectators, the radius of relation is 360°, the spaces are united and the formal border dissolved. Between these two poles of the spectrum the hybrid type of the 270° theatre is added. In this type the stage starts to permeate the auditorium. It is then surrounded by 3 sides. The following formula for the PAC emerges :
180° Opera + 270° Thrust Stage Theatre + 360° Theatre in the Round = 810° Theatre.
Design.
The concept tends to amalgamate the conclusions extracted of the urban environment with the results of the typological research to a coherent whole.
The theatre volumes are placed as solitary volumes at the sites borders which makes passage from the 3 main directions (residential area, Shilin Night Market and TRTS Line) possible, which are interconnected in the middle of the three volumes. An inclined plane branches off of each of these 3 passages and opens up the PACs foyer layer which is lifted of the ground. Through a secondary branch of this plane the buildings roof, which is cantilevering towards the Night Market, is made publicly accessible.
The foyer layer is conceived as an open space which is connecting the 3 theatres and is slightly elevated towards the Night Market. Furthermore, the afore mentioned ramps going through towards the roof and the ramps which are leading downwards into the theatres are intrinsic for this space. So a continuously differentiated inner landscape emerges.
The theatres design and their circulation is closely correlated with their respective typology. Thereby the 180° theatre is accessible from one side, the 270° theatre from 3 sides and the 360° from all sides in a double helix movement. The auditoriums boundaries and galleries are formed by delaminating shells. The transition between these two conditions of vertical boundary and horizontal gallery permits entering the respective part of the auditorium. So on the one hand a distinct spatial experience is created for each theatre but because of the parametric nature of transformations the superior interrelation of spaces as parts of a whole remains perceptible.
