Kaohsiung is the second largest city in Taiwan and one of the world's largest sea ports, also host to a dramatic subtropical climate of typhoons, high temperatures, heavy rainfall and regular earthquakes. The new 81,360 square-metre performance complex must cope with all of these extremes. The location for this building is a former sixty-five hectare military compound in the centre of the metropolitan area of Kaohsiung. It's also dense with banyan trees, their twisting trunks and branches having gradually interlocked over decades. The form of the banyan trees reflects the local climate. Its wide crown, providing shelter against the sun and rain, is a perfect expression of Kaohsiung's humid atmosphere. We wonder whether the banyan tree could help us to create a combination of formal and informal performance spaces. In this way the building would be full of life around the clock; a natural continuation of the park. The open, protective shape of the banyan tree becomes a springboard for the design. Its expansive sheltered crown becomes the Banyan Plaza, a partially enclosed public space where the cooling wind can freely flow between the four formal performance halls, which form the 'trunks' that support the undulating roof. Where the roof touches the earth the building becomes an amphitheatre, open towards the surrounding parkland which, in turn, becomes both its stage and its set.
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