Pingtung Performing Arts Center_Performing Arts Centers_Projects | KRIS YAO｜ARTECH

The growing self-awareness of identity in local communities around Taiwan has helped to shape this project. Although there have been spurts of modernization around Taiwan, the remote tropical Pingtung where this Center is located is still a place that maintains its tightly-knit social fabric with an old-time, relaxed charm. The Performing Arts Center is designed to reflect this local character by making it truly a place for the local people, rather than a sophisticated performing venue reserved for high culture. In this design, many “back-of-house” facilities are brought to the front, enabling intimate interactions between the performer and the audience, allowing grandparents to watch their grandchildren rehearse and the scene production to be viewed by the public. The central plaza can conveniently accommodate festival events, outdoor films, or even political rallies. The concert hall of 1200 seats, a multiform black box theater with 200 seats and a series of low-rise structure in blocks for auxiliary functions are placed strategically to form indoor and outdoor spaces that are visible and easily accessible to the public.

Two sets of portal frames with dancing angles, where the concert hall and the black box are housed, define the overall form of the building and the plaza. A terrace on the second level wraps around the plaza, with grand stairs connecting it to the ground level, encouraging the public to use the outdoor amphitheater. The deep portal frames on the east and west sides provide sun shading, and on the north and south sides, protruding solid boxes reduce exposure to the sun. Above the plaza, a large movable awning system provides shade from the summer sun.