The architectural firm that had been selected to design the National Palace Museum’s Southern Branch has withdrawn from the project.
Antoine Predock Architect PC said on Tuesday that it was quitting the design project with immediate effect and billed the museum headquarters in Taipei for NT$40 million (US$1.2 million) in compensation for losses incurred.
The firm had been selected by a competition jury four years ago from a field of six finalists to design the museum in Chiayi County.
Chiayi County officials in charge of cultural affairs said the firm’s unilateral decision to pull out may have been the result of a failure to reach an accommodation with the museum over serious construction delays, design methods and the quality of building materials.
The officials said that if the museum had agreed to the firm’s demands, it would have led to a 30 percent increase in construction costs.
The project could still proceed despite the firm’s withdrawal if the museum were to reopen international bidding for the design and the budget is approved, the officials said.
“The southern branch could still be built by 2011 as scheduled if the construction budget is passed by the Legislative Yuan in time,” they said.
The Executive Yuan approved the construction of the southern branch in 2003, estimating that the branch museum would be built on a 70 hectare site with a total budget of approximately NT$6 billion.
The budget for clearing the land, which included digging an artificial lake, planting trees and installing irrigation and water-drainage systems, is NT$450 million.
The project had been scheduled to be around 20 percent complete by Jan. 7, though the actual completion figure was listed as 11.9 percent. The government has also not approved the project’s annual budget allocation since 2003.
The 60m-tall building was to have been built in the shape of Yushan, and would have been visible to passengers on the high-speed railway.
Explaining the design concept in 2004, Antoine Predock said: “Our proposal brings into focus a synthesizing concept of the intimate, varied pan-Asian universe that the National Palace Museum Southern Branch intends to illuminate: ‘The need to know ourselves and other Asian regions as well.’”
“Like Lin Hwai-min (林懷民) and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s 2001 production Cursive, visitors move through space and atmosphere, ‘imitating the linear route of ink, full of lyrical flows and strong punctions, with rich variations in energy,’” he said.
Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) gave an assurance earlier this year that the branch would open on schedule in 2011, despite serious construction delays.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS