Taipei City’s new sports and commercial complex is on the fast track for completion, with the landmark project expected to be finished two years ahead of schedule by the end of 2015.
“Trial operations for Taipei Dome are set to commence in 2016,” an official with local builder Farglory Construction said Nov. 13 at a beam-raising ceremony. “We expect it to be well and truly ready to host events during Universiade in August 2017.”
Rapid progress on the 10.2-hectare project in eastern Taipei is due to an innovative engineering method that makes lifting the structure’s 13,000-ton roof into place easier and faster. Once completed, the facility will feature a 40,000-seat multipurpose arena, 20-floor business building, 408-room hotel, baseball museum and shopping mall spanning more than 66,200 square meters.
According to Farglory, the project is the first in the world to be built completely with steel pipes and only green dome complex equipped with cloud technology. Another standout accomplishment is a people movement plan enabling the dome to be safely emptied in 30 minutes.
Designed by Kansas City-headquartered Populous with construction commencing in April 2012, the undertaking involves more than 1,000 architects, designers and engineers from Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K. and U.S. (SFC-JSM)
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