National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts

The Kaohsiung National Art Center is emblematic of Kaohsiung’s transformation from a major port to a culturally diverse, modern metropolis. Designed by the Mecanoo architectural firm on a former military site, the centre blends harmoniously into a subtropical park and combines architecture, nature and community. Inspired by the local banyan trees, the imposing, undulating structure combines public spaces, an open-air theatre and several state-of-the-art event halls. Designed to be open to the subtropical climate, allowing the wind to blow unhindered through Banyan Plaza, the centre creates fluid transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces, thus promoting cultural encounters. BEMO was allowed to participate in the project and realised the wave-shaped standing seam roof.

The iconic roof of the National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts, with its approximately 35,000 m² wave-shaped structure, forms the conceptual basis of the project. It is reminiscent of a billowing tectonic plate made of architectural fabric and impressively combines form and function. Between the four representative event halls, which support the roof as “trunks”, a dynamic interplay of space and structure is created. At the points where the roof touches the ground, the building is transformed into an open amphitheatre that merges seamlessly into the surrounding parkland – a masterpiece of civil engineering in which nature and architecture merge into a stage.

Due to the sophisticated architecture and the premise of adhering exactly to the design specifications, the roof was realised with BEMO-MONRO® standing seam profiles made of aluminium. Tolerance adjustments across the 4 layers in the 800 mm thick roof structure were carried out by BEMO based on 3D scans of the actual situation. The roof consists of 2,310 straight, 120 conical and 2,080 individually shaped standing seam profiles, which were produced on site. The aluminium profiles were coated with PVDF in light grey.

Kaohsiung is a dynamic metropolis with just under three million inhabitants. As the second largest city in Taiwan and one of the most important seaports in the world, it is not only economically formative, but also characterized by an intense subtropical climate – with typhoons, high temperatures, heavy rainfall and regular earthquakes.

For this reason, the structural resistance of the metal cladding was as demanding as the shape of the building.