Part landscape, part architecture, the 1.51-million-square-foot National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts blurs the boundaries between indoors and out, solid and void. Floating at one end of a 116-acre park that had been a military base before the project began 12 years ago, the $280-million complex brings together four performance spaces under one enormous roof and a fifth one on top of it. To get from one venue to another, visitors navigate a matrix of spaces flowing around the elliptically shaped halls. Covered, but open to breezes and views of the park, this fluid matrix provides a cool retreat from the sub-tropical sun and frequent rains—serving as a public plaza where anyone can come to do tai chi in the morning, jog in the afternoon, or relax in the evening.

Inspired by the large banyan trees that grow on the site, the Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo designed the building so it has curving steel panels that wrap around the auditoria and rise to connect above the plaza like a leafy canopy.  The architects worked with Dutch and local shipbuilders to fabricate and install the steel panels, a nod to Kaohsiung’s history as a port city on the southwest coast of Taiwan. The quarter-inch-thick panels are welded together and retain the rugged look of a “cargo ship, not a yacht,” says Francine Houben, founding partner and creative director of Mecanoo. In Kaohsiung, night markets and street performances animate the public realm after dark when temperatures drop. The architects hope their Banyan Plaza works in the same way, luring people to dance, sing, and sketch, while others come to attend ticketed events indoors. “We wanted to capture the city’s wonderful mix of informal and formal,” states Houben.