The initial results of the first stage of the international design competition of the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House has been announced after careful consideration by judges. There are altogether 32 famous local and overseas architectural firms taking part in this competition. The five winning contestants (in the order they have been announced) are: Chien Architects & Associates (Taiwan), Zaha Hadid Architects (England), Toyo Ito & Associates Architects (Japan), Claus en Kaan Architecten (the Netherlands) and Shuhei Endo (Japan).

This competition will be carried out in two stages. The first stage will be judged according to the design teams’ design concept, where five contestants will be selected. These five will each receive US$50,000 in prize money. These five contestants will then proceed to produce finer design details of their design concept as well as building an architectural model of their design. There will be a selection report on December 15 and 16. And on December 16, the second stage results will be announced. The public exhibition of these competitive works will be on display between December 16 and 25, 2005.