The Public Nature of High-Rise Buildings in Taiwan

Abstract

The public nature of a high-rise building can be understood in two ways. Visually, it is an expression of architectural imagery. Physically, it is a layout of attached public spaces in which people can interact. Recently, high-rise buildings in Taiwan have grown in terms of their aesthetics as well as their height. With the aid of a survey of the aesthetics and layouts of high-rise buildings in Taiwan, the symbolic representation and public nature of high-rise buildings are examined. In addition, the Taipei 101 International Financial Centre is illustrated to show that high-rise building in Asia is moving away from a focus on construction technology and building style toward concern with architectural imagery and cultural identification which emphasise autonomous cultural representation.

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