TAIPEI PERFORMING ARTS CENTER COMPETITION | NEIL DENARI ARCHITECTS 

Like all Asian cities, Taipei has undergone tremendous growth in the last decade, symbolised not only by Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building, but also by the rapid proliferation of banal residential towers, which are, perhaps, the worst fall-out, architectural speaking, of the high powered Asian economy. While more and more people are finding adequate housing, cities are becoming less and less captivating in the process. This is due to the global migration of capital that seems, often, to do more harm than good. Nonetheless, a pressurised vertical ecology of architecture offers the city density and a kind of sustained energy that is at the heart of urban life.

As clearly stated in the project brief, the TPAC’s status as a cultural centre is that of a hyper accessible, popular venue, enjoyed by all levels of society. Unleashed from any old-world connotations, performing arts in the 21st century must in fact compete with the quicksilver, repetitive world of digital entertainment...