National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) is the first national theater located in southern Taiwan. Its superb location and rich history signify its mission of bridging the past with the future, connecting local and global talents.

Designed by Dutch architect Francine Houben, National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) spans 9.9 hectares and sits in the northeast corner of a vast lush park. Transformed from a military training base to an arts and culture center of the future, Weiwuying continues its heritage of talent fostering and civil service. As it becomes one of the pivotal theatre complexes in the arts. Weiwuying hopes to bring forth new experiences and life-changing moments that make the arts special to eveyone.

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Weiwuying Arts Festival and Weiwuying Children’s Festival are two major festivals beginning in 2011 to create opportunities for a concentrated arts experience and cultivate audiences. Participation has repeatedly strike new highs. Programs offer wide selections from traditional to contemporary and novelties from across the globe. This cross-culture and cross-genre diversification allows children, teenagers, and even elderlies to shape their own artistic world. As the sole national arts center in southern Taiwan, Weiwuying actively connects professionals, art-lovers and friends from all over the world, and pursues to serve as a friendly venue for performing arts, moreover to take the helm in bringing about a transformation through arts in the society.

National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) is Taiwan’s largest theater complex at 141,000 sqm. It consists of four indoor stages at total 6,000 capacity: Opera house (2,260 seats), Concert Hall (2,000 seats), Playhouse (1,250 seats), Recital Hall (470 seats), and an amphitheater which seats 1,000.

Weiwuying is Taiwan’s most significant cultural project since the eighties, featuring the most modern theater technology. It transformed from its historical military training base to an arts base present day with the mission to drive arts development in the southern Taiwan region.

Weiwuying sits on the northeast corner of the 47-hectare Weiwuying Metropolitan Park. Surrounded by an extravagance of lush green vegetation, the building exterior takes of graceful curvatures built in collaboration with Kaohsiung’s own shipmaking industry. The large canopy signifying banyan tree crowns glides to the ground in a smooth curve, blending seamlessly into the surrounding environment. People from close and afar can access the building freely, creating an intimacy between theatre and life.

Inspired by the lush banyan trees in the park, architect Francine Houben created the design resembling tree trunks and shaded open spaces to allow aerial routes in the Banyan Plaza.

The great roof resembling the tree crowns provides shade and protection from Taiwan’s tropical climate and forms an informal public space where city residents can stroll, practice Tai Chi, meditate. An open-air theater nestles on the roof where the structure curves to the ground, with the surrounding park forming the stage. The seamless integration between interior and exterior spaces create opportunities for crossovers between formal and informal performances.