OMA of Netherlands to design Taipei Performing Arts Centre

Jan 22, 2009, 12:44 GMT

Taipei - Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) beat 135 rivals from 24 countries on Thursday to win the contract to design a world-class performing arts centre in the Taiwan capital Taipei.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin announced that OMA, designer of many world-famous landmarks including the Central China Television Centre in Beijing, had been chosen to design the Taipei Performing Arts Centre.

OMA will form a consortium with Taiwan's Artech Inc to design the 2.2-hectare centre, which will house a 1,500-seat theatre and two 800-seat theatres.

The design will take about one year. The centre is scheduled to open in 2013.

The budget for the construction is 3.8 billion Taiwan dollars (115 million US dollars), 15 per cent of which will be awarded to the winning team, chosen by a jury headed by Mohsen Mostafavi, dean of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

The city government expects the centre to help with the development of local performing groups and build up Taipei's image as a cultural city.

The Taipei City Government will also invite international architectural teams to design two other cultural facilities: the Taipei Pop Music Centre and Taipei City Museum.