Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center

The Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts is a multifunctional performing arts center inspired by the towering banyan trees and their continuous dense canopy at the site of the former Kaohsiung Army Camp. The overall design features a large undulating roof that covers four performance venues—an opera house, a concert hall, a playhouse, and a recital hall—surrounding a central public space called the "Banyan Plaza." It is the world’s largest single-roof performing arts complex.

Each venue offers unique features and diverse performance spaces. The opera house, the largest with 2,236 seats, includes a computer-assisted stage and an adjustable orchestra pit. The concert hall features vineyard-style seating and Asia’s largest pipe organ with 9,085 pipes, seating 1,981. The playhouse combines proscenium and three-sided stage formats with computer-controlled stage platforms, seating 1,209. The recital hall is a shoebox-shaped space with adjustable acoustic walls and flexible soundproofing, seating 434.

The outdoor theater connects to the urban park, providing a performance space within a natural environment.

The four distinct performance venues operate independently but share public spaces on the ground and mezzanine levels, allowing flexible circulation and integrating complex support infrastructure.

The vast roof shelters the multifunctional "Banyan Plaza," replicating the dense banyan tree canopy originally on site. Surrounding the plaza are free-form curved walls made from 6mm thick steel plates, bent using shipbuilding techniques and fully welded into continuous surfaces. Weld seams are intentionally exposed to symbolize Kaohsiung's identity as a port city and hub of heavy industry and shipbuilding.

Each of the four performance halls and a transportation core form independent cylindrical structures supporting a massive roof spanning approximately 35,000 square meters. The roof’s undulating form responds to interior functional needs (such as stage equipment towers and the concert hall dome) and is constructed using a 6m by 6m circular steel tube lattice. This structural approach simplifies the complex roof design and establishes a global benchmark for the lowest unit cost in performing arts buildings.