The National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) has created tactile 3D models of its pipe organ for the visually impaired to experience one of the hall’s defining features.
A set of three models of the famous pipe organ at the National Concert Hall in Taipei were made at 1:30 scale, with some parts hand-carved and others made with 3D laser engraving technology, enabling the visually impaired to learn about the instrument through touch and sound.
The models seek to accurately represent the instrument’s intricate construction in its entirety, including its sophisticated construction and carvings, the NTCH said in a statement.
Photo: CNA
The pipes were made with two different materials, and the set also includes a representation of the keyboard.
They are to feature prominently in the hall’s guided touch tours on April 25 and May 29, which people can register for on the NTCH’s Web site, it said, adding that more sessions would be added.
The pipe organ was handmade by world-renowned organ-building company Flentrop in the Netherlands, tailored to the architecture and scale of the venue, the NTCH said.
The 9m-long, 14m-wide instrument was the largest pipe organ in Asia at the time of its completion, it said.
The NTCH has been striving to integrate the values of sustainability and inclusiveness into its operations in the past few years, NTCH general and artistic director Liu Yi-ru (劉怡汝) said.
Barrier-free access and facilities were incorporated in its Performing Arts Library during a renovation in 2021, while accessibility services such as performances accompanied by contextual subtitles and audio descriptions are offered at the theater and concert hall, she added.
Following the success of touch tours launched at the National Theater in 2017, the NTCH this year organized similar tours at the National Concert Hall to make the venue more accessible to the visually impaired.
The tour, which lasts about an hour, showcases the plaza outside the hall, the lobby, the seating areas and the pipe organ, the NTCH said.
Visitors are invited to familiarize themselves with the plaza and surrounding areas with a tactile guidebook, and are encouraged to “get a feel for” the marble walls and the handrails in the lobby, it said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS