In our latest Issue of INNOVATE, we asked Associate Architect Heath May to share with us a few tidbits about the design of the Straits Forum Convention Center. Here is what he had to say:
Q: Did any of the concepts have special meaning to you? Did the highly political nature of the project arouse passions about architecture or bettering humanity?
A: ‘One Roof’ has very special meaning to me. My original title for this concept was ‘Balance,’ and my intent was to convey, in form and space, the idea of mainland China, this juggernaut of political and economic influence and power, meeting the geographically tiny and ideologically defiant Taiwan in a place that served to place both parties on equal terms, to level the playing field. I wanted to show this balance, which in my mind also expresses the delicate instance when things are in stasis, still, and yet screaming with the life, tension and energy embodied in the place at that particular moment in time. I’ve always held a deep admiration for the underdog, the little guy bowing out his chest in the face of certain loss, and I think that shapes my view of certain things, and explains the feeling that I had to express this – it was one of those things that I had to say.