October 2018: this is the opening data of National Kaohsiung Center for Arts - Weiwuying a single sweeping building designed by Dutch architects Mecanoo. It incorporates five separate state of the art performance spaces, covering a surface area of 35 acres and is set in a subtropical park (470,000 sqm) in the centre of Kaohsiung. Incorporating a 2,260 seat Opera House, a 2,000 seat Concert Hall equipped with a 9,085 pipe organ built by Orgelbau Klais - the largest pipe organ ever built in Asia - a flexible Playhouse (seating between 1,094 and 1,254) suitable for theatre, dance, and Chinese Opera, a 470 seat Recital Hall, ideal for chamber music and solo recitals and an outdoor performance space open to audiences of up to 20,000, it is the world’s largest performing arts centre under one roof. The Executive and Artistic Director Chien Wen-Pin, current Kapellmeister of Deutsche Oper am Rhein and former Music Director of Taiwan Philharmonic, said “Weiwuying is one of the most beautiful, iconic and best-equipped performing arts centres in the world. The creative industries are extraordinarily lively in Taiwan. Once our doors are officially open, the Center will become an exciting springboard from which talent can soar”. Francine Houben Founding Architect of Mecanoo Architects, said, ‘Weiwuying is one of Mecanoo’s most ambitious buildings and embodies all the key elements of our philosophy. Inspired by the beauty of the local Banyan trees with their iconic canopies of leaves, the vast, undulating structure is composed of a unique skin and roof under which generous free spaces can flow. We have aimed to deliver a flagship cultural destination for Taiwan, a beacon to attract performers and audiences from around the world”.