Building inspired by the fluting structure of a native species of orchid
Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled its designs for a 47-storey office tower in Taipei after winning an international competition for the scheme.
Located in the heart of the Taiwanese capital’s financial district, the National Innovation, Creativity and Finance Center will house four institutions of the country’s Financial Supervisory Commission including the stock exchange.
It will also house the FSC’s futures exchange, depository and clearing corporation.
The building will be situated in one of the busiest parts of the city, close to Taipei Main Station and neighbouring the historic Taipei Beimen Post Office, which was built in 1930.
Under ZHA’s plans, the post office will be transformed into a museum and cultural venue at the foot of the office tower, with its original interiors restored and later extensions to the building removed.
The museum will contain immersive displays, literary archives and artefacts telling the story of the building’s 95-year history as a centre of the city’s postal service.
The adjacent office tower will sit on a podium which mirrors the scale of the post office and fronts onto a large new courtyard intended for public performances and events.
The design of the tower has been inspired by Taiwan’s native Phalaenopsis Orchid, with fluting column structures running up the length of its facade which unfurl and extend outwards as the tower rises.
The pleated facade system is also designed to regulate solar gain and airflow in Taiwan’s humid climate, with the shape of the walls enabling the building to “breathe like a living organism”, ZHA said.
The firm’s other recent projects in the Far East include the 46-storey Yidan Centre in Shenzhen, set to become the headquarters of the Yidan Prize for education.
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