The ground-breaking ceremony
was hosted by Premier Wu
Den-yih (center), Taichung City
Mayor Jason Hu (right), and
Taichung City Council Speaker
Chang Hung-Nien (left).

3D simulation of Taichung
Metropolitan Opera House

Model of Taichung Metropolitan
Opera House

Taichung Metropolitan Opera House Ground-Breaking Ceremony

Conquering all construction obstacles to build a new world-class landmark

Words and photos by Taichung City Government
Translated by Naomi Lai

The ground-breaking ceremony for the second-stage main construction of the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House was held on Dec. 3. Taichung City Major Jason Hu, Executive Yuan Premier Wu Den-yih, Council of Cultural Affairs Minister Emile (Chih-jen) Sheng, Taichung City Council Speaker Chang Hung-nien, and architect Toyo Ito were guests for this event, marking construction of an avant-garde architectural design.

Rivaling the Sydney Opera House
At the ceremony, Mayor Hu said the project was a dream of Taichung's people and would become an international artistic performance space in the future. The Sydney Opera House, despite its increased need for funding and extended construction time, is now considered one of the greatest architectural works in the world. Today, the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House starts its own construction with the goal of completion in five years. The innovative and modern designs represent a concentration of Toyo Ito's lifetime work and experiences and will become the pride of Taiwan and a future global landmark. Towards this aim, Mayor Hu also thanked Lee Ming Construction for accepting this challenge. During a previous encounter with world-renowned film director Ang Lee, the mayor also extended a verbal invitation to show all future Ang Lee movies in the Opera House.

Architect Ito said that it had been four years since he was awarded this project. Standing on its foundation today, he said that the surrounding buildings were no longer the same. Thus, due to the uniqueness of his design, he has been conflicted over whether to change or modify it. He noted that it was with the support of Mayor Hu that he was able to move on to today and that, in the future, he and his team would work even harder to complete this project.

Challenging Techniques
The Department of Construction said that the special surface design of the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, which can be described as an innovative cave-like spacial design, was already creating new concepts of spacial design in the history of architecture. The main structure will be formed with several connecting curved walls, inlaid floors, inlaid interior and exterior walls, and a core service wall. The curved wall structure will be formed with 58 curved wall units, creating many complications in building steel bar reinforcements and steel trusses. The construction technique is the first of its kind in the world of architecture and has never been seen before in the Taiwanese engineering industry, which meant that many local construction companies failed to show interest in participating in the project. In order to acquire the cooperation of the ideal company, the city government visited many potential collaborators and finally signed a contract with Lee Ming Construction. Lee Ming will be working with other professional construction teams under the supervision of architecture firms like Toyo Ito & Associates to overcome any obstacle in completing this project with the city government.

A Taiwanese Landmark
Minister Emile Sheng emphasized the central government's support for this project, including providing better performances to complement such top-quality facilities and infrastructure, in order to make the opera house a part of the Taiwan brand image. Premier Wu also stressed the government's support and thanked Taichung City Council Speaker Chang for his efforts in passing budgets for this project. Wu said that Ito had already accomplished an amazing work with the World Games Main Stadium in Kaohsiung, and he expressed certainty that the Metropolitan Opera House would break new limits and leave behind a great legacy.

To the applause of the ceremony audience, the guests of honor excavated three shovelfuls of dirt to the festive accompaniment of firecrackers in a symbolic welcome to a new architectural masterpiece and era.