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The British newspaper The Guardian praised it as the "biggest arts venue on Earth" like one taken out of an epic scene. The American newspaper The New York Times called it a "living room for culture." How did the team behind the world-class arts venue of Weiwuying overcome hurdles after hurdles and complete the impossible task of the venue's construction?
\n\nJoin us on December 20 (Sun.) as we invite the behind-the-scene heroes of Weiwuying's construction—Chien Kuo Construction chairman WU Chang-Shiou and acoustic consultant Albert XU—to share their first-hand experience in this project. Also attending the seminar will be WANG Chun-Hsiung, Dean of the Department of Architecture at Shih Chien University and curator of the Taiwan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2018, and CHIEN Wen-Pin, General and Artistic Director of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), who will explore this symphonic poem of arts and construction from an architectural and performing arts perspective.
\n\nNational Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) is the world's largest single-roof performing arts center. The cloud-like freeform roof posed a great challenge to the Taiwanese architectural construction sector. With precise and careful measurement, the roof was constructed from over 4,000 aluminum panels of varying sizes, all held to the world's highest standards in wind resistance and sound isolation. Constructed from 6-cm thick steel panels, the steel skin of the undulating roof of Weiwuying's unique open public space is a perfect fusion of European precision engineering and Kaohsiung's local shipbuilding industry.
\n\nThe acoustics of Weiwuying's four performance halls were designed and overseen by acoustic consultant Albert XU, who adopted the design concept of the box-in-a-box to isolate sound and vibration, resulting in a sound stage believed to be superior to that of the Berliner Philharmonie. Taiwan never had such a world-class performing arts venue before Weiwuying, the planning and construction for which took fifteen years. For its 2018 grand opening, the world-class performers of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra were both invited for the first time to southern Taiwan.
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Time
\n\nDecember 20 (Sun.) 2020
\n\n* The guided tour will focus on the challenges in architectural construction and is only open to seminar attendees.
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Location
\n\nLecture Hall
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How to register
\n\nRegistration: Online registration required, free.
\n\nRegistration Period: from today to 17:00 December 18 (Fri), 2020. (GMT+8)
\n\n(Places are limited and are reserved strictly on a first-come-first-serve basis.)
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(The session is fully booked.)
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Forum Speakers
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Chun-Hsiung WANG| Dean of the Department of Architecture at Shih Chien University
\n\nDr. Chun-Hsiung Wang received his master’s degree in Architecture from Cornell University, and his doctoral degree in Architecture from the National Cheng Kung University. He chairs the Shih Chien University Department of Architecture, specializing in design and in explorations of modernity in Taiwanese architecture. Dr. Wang currently serves as Chief Editor of Architecture + Tectonics Taiwan (a+tec) magazine, and is President of Spatial Native Language Foundation of Arts and Culture. His published works include Republic of China and Architecture: Historical Development in a Hundred Years, and On the Building of Architectural Professionalism in the Nationalist Era. In his quest for meaningful civic engagement, and for the possibility of creating freedom and aesthetic beauty from within a rigid system, he has been involved in the planning of, and has consulted on, a number of public space projects. Dr. Wang has curated numerous architectural exhibitions, including the "International Exhibition of Architecture Graduation Design" (IEAGD) from 2012 to 2018; the 2014 "Tectonic Becoming Exhibition"; the Taiwan Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale; the Fieldoffice Architects “Making Places” European Touring Exhibition (2016- ); and the Fieldoffice Architects "Living in Place" exhibition for the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale.
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Albert XU |Acoustic Consultant of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)
\n\nAn internationally-renowned architectural acoustician based in France, XU has specialized in architectural acoustics since 1957 and was involved in the acoustics design and study of the National Center for the Performing Arts' Opera Hall (houses 3,000 seats; with natural acoustics) in Beijing, China. In 1958, he performed scale model acoustic testing on a 1:10 scale model of the opera hall in order to study the importance of early reflections to the quality of the sound stage, and how to mitigate the acoustic defects in the VIP area in the center of the stalls. XU was later invited to conduct studies on concert hall acoustics at the French Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM).
\n\nXU founded Xu-Acoustique in Paris in 1987 and practiced as an acoustic consultant to provide precise acoustic design solutions to high-end performing venues around the world. He was awarded the highest honors in architectural acoustics—the Award for Best Technical Consultant and the Award for Achievement in the Research of Architectural Engineering—by the French Academy of Architecture in 1995 and 2004, respectively.
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WU Chang-Shiou| Chairman of Chien Kuo Construction Co. Ltd.
\n\nPhD., Civil Engineering & Engineering Mechanics, University of Arizona (USA)
\n\nWU joined Chien Kuo Construction Co. Ltd. in 2010 and worked on-site at the Weiwuying construction site between 2012 and 2015, serving as the project director of the stage one and stage two construction of Weiwuying. Looking back at the construction process, WU noted that he has learned and benefited much from this job. This includes the tangible benefits of gaining a better grasp on acoustic and building information modeling and the engineering technologies involved in complicated structures, while the greatest intangible benefit is the engineering personnel getting a boost in ability and gaining a wider perspective.
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CHIEN Wen-pin|General and Artistic Director of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)
\n\nCHIEN Wen-pin, General and Artistic Director of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), was born in 1967, graduated from the National Taiwan Academy of Arts and awarded with Master degree at the National University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna. CHIEN joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf/Duisburg, Germany) in 1996 and served as "Kapellmeister" for 22 years. 1998-2004 he was Resident Conductor of the Pacific Music Festival (Sapporo, Japan), 2001-2007 he was Music Director of National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan Philharmonic), during his tenure the orchestra has achieved several milestones such as creating Subscription series, commissioning Taiwanese composers, introducing an opera series which coroneted with the first production of the complete "Ring des Nibelungen" by Richard Wagner in Chinese speaking areas, upon orchestra's 20th anniversary in 2006. 2014-2016 CHIEN was Artistic Advisor of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. In addition, CHIEN was winner of the "National Award for Arts" in 2014.
\n\nAlso, he was the first-ever General and Artist Director after the National Kaohsiung Center for the Art(Weiwuying) opened on October 2018.
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Moderator
\n\nKathy Hong| Chairperson of the Performing Arts Network Development Association
\n\nKathy Hong is the Chairperson of the Performing Arts Network Development Association, an association of arts managers in Taiwan, and an advisor to the Cloud Gate Dance Theater, ALIEN Art Centre, and Vocal Asia Festival. She is an art professional with extensive experience in theater and international collaboration. She was Executive Director of OISTAT – International Organization of Scenographers, Theater Architects and Technicians 2012-2015, and Marketing & Communications Director of National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts 2015-2019.
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Co-Organizer
\n\nNational Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)
\n\nChien Kuo Foundation For Arts And Culture
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