Kaohsiung Pop Music Heart / Manuel A. Monteserín Lahoz

Text description provided by the architects. Next to the mouth of the Love River, the project is located in the port city of Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan. In this particular enclave where water is the central axis of Taiwanese life —both economically with the largest port in Taiwan, and at the urban level with the Love River drawing a dividing line between the two parts of the city, and at the environmental level where the relative humidity ranges between 60% and 80%— the Pop Music Center proposes a landscape of geometries rescued from the seabed. Foams, corals, seaweed, waves, and aquatic animals are arranged on the surface and specialize in specific uses, so each piece manifests its own personality and a formal challenge and, at the same time, is integrated into a common ecosystem.

The joint effort between the City Council, the Ministry of Culture, and the Central Government of Taiwan to give the Kaohsiung port area a new cultural dimension has reached its peak with the center dedicated to pop music. The pop music industry has a strong identity in the society of this part of Asia. Taiwan, due to its history and geopolitical situation, has developed a unique style, where many cultural elements coexist and in which its own tradition is increasingly being claimed. In the same way, the project filters the tradition between iconic architectures and, at the same time, proposes a flexible design in which the program can fit but also the cultural reappropriation of the users.

The architectural ecosystem that makes up The Kaohsiung Pop Music Center is 1. The GREAT WAVE, with an outdoor auditorium for 12,000 people, a concert hall for 3,500 people, and two towers with an office program, a museum, and rehearsal rooms. 2. WHALES, six live houses for events, concerts, or presentations. 3. DOLPHINS, five restaurants connected by a walkway. 4. The CORAL or Exhibit, an exhibition center and outdoor multipurpose area. 5. A series of parks and walks connect the entire intervention.

The entire complex is designed to respond to the program, but also to allow spontaneous activities to take place when there are no concerts. In this way, the architectural pieces accommodate the interior rooms and, at the same time, turn onto the exterior generating different meeting spaces.