Taiwan

Over a decade after first being commissioned, Vincent Callebaut's twisting Tao Zhu Yin Yuan is finally nearing completion – and it's looking like the wait has been worth it. It has an ambitious DNA-inspired form and a focus on energy efficiency.

In the age of internet shopping, a lot of malls have closed, but MVRDV offers an idea for what to do with them with its recently-completed Tainan Spring. The project transforms a dilapidated old mall into a lagoon and park in Tainan, Taiwan.

Sky Green, designed by WOHA and located in Taichung, Taiwan, features a large amount of trees and plants, and offers occupants the use of terrace areas that are envisioned as a pleasant escape from the bustle of city life.

The 2019 Inside World Festival of Interiors recently took place in Amsterdam alongside the World Architecture Festival. During the annual event, the JCA Living Lab, a renovated home in Taipei, Taiwan, was named the World Interior of the Year.

Foster + Partners recently completed yet another new store for the US firm. Apple's own design team, headed by Jony Ive, is named as a close collaborator on the project and the sleek glazed building draws design cues from Apple's headquarters, Apple Park.

Construction has begun on a new Zaha Hadid Architects-designed bridge in Taiwan that's billed as the world's longest single-mast, asymmetric cable-stayed bridge. Due to open in 2024, the Danjiang Bridge is a massive project with a considerable budget of NT$12.49 billion (US$405.2 million).

MVRDV has created some of its finest work in relation to markets, such as the Glass Farm and Markthal. The firm has now broken ground on yet another market and this one will be defined by a large terraced green roof that will grow produce and allow people to walk atop.

​​Billed as the largest performing arts center in the world and a new cultural hub for East Asia, the National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts in Taiwan is an expansive facility that references the local landscape and houses a huge public plaza under its undulating roof.

Space isn’t easy to come by for folks in the densely populated cities of Taiwan. A new tiny apartment in the capital of Taipei is making the most of every square inch, splitting the amenities across a three-level interior tastefully covered in carefully chosen materials.

An abandoned military base in Taiwan has been converted into the Penghu Qingwan Cactus Park, a leisurely landscape complete with greenhouses full of cacti, an artists’ village and sea views. Designed by CCL Architects & Planners, the tourist attraction has won a 2017 American Architecture Prize.

To make use of graphene in practical applications, it usually needs to be converted into a 3D form. Now, researchers have developed a new and relatively simple way to do just that, using lasers to “forge” a three-dimensional pyramid out of graphene.

We regularly cover Vincent Callebaut's sustainable architecture concepts, but have wondered how well his eye-catching renders would translate to real buildings. We need not wonder for long, as the Belgian architect's twisting, greenery-clad Agora Garden Tower is taking shape in Taiwan.