Photo courtesy of National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts
Photo courtesy of CNA
Taipei, Aug. 24 (CNA) The National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts has been named by Time Magazine as one of the World's 100 Greatest Places on its 2019 list, alongside Egypt's Red Sea Mountain Trail and Newseum in Washington, D.C.
Described by the magazine's latest annual list, unveiled on Friday, as the "new home to the largest performing-arts center in the world under a single roof," National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, also known as Weiwuying, is the first structure in Taiwan to be named on the list.
The sleek, wave-shaped Weiwuying, which opened in October 2018 following 15 years of construction, is a former Japanese military base turned into the first national theater in southern Taiwan.
According to Weiwuying's website, the design by Dutch architectural firm Mecanoo was inspired by the sinuous canopy created by clusters of banyan trees commonly found in southern Taiwan.
Since Weiwuying's opening, the four performance venues inside the center have seen world-class acts, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the German orchestra Berliner Philharmoniker.
The center has also attracted the attention of several international media outlets, including the BBC, New York Times, the Guardian, the National Geographic and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a daily newspaper published in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Weiwuying said in a statement Friday that being selected as one of the world's top 100 places by the American magazine is the result of the collective effort from the operation team and other staff, adding that it was committed to hosting more high-quality art performances.
To compile the annual list of the world's 100 greatest places, according to TIME, the magazine solicited nominations across a variety of categories, including museums, parks, restaurants, and hotels.
Each nomination is evaluated based on quality, originality, sustainability, innovation and influence, according to the publication.
