Taipei Performing Arts Center

This guide to the Taipei Performing Arts Center starts at a bowl of night-market hotpot, the odd image architect Rem Koolhaas says shaped a cube punctured by three theater pods overlooking Shilin Night Market. You'll hear about the sphere-shaped playhouse locals nicknamed after a local snack, and about the decade-long build that saw a main contractor collapse into bankruptcy owing over two billion Taiwan dollars. Stand back across the street from the market to take in the whole cube at once.