The National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) has created tactile 3D models of its pipe organ for the visually impaired to experience one of the hall’s defining features.
A set of three models of the famous pipe organ at the National Concert Hall in Taipei were made at 1:30 scale, with some parts hand-carved and others made with 3D laser engraving technology, enabling the visually impaired to learn about the instrument through touch and sound.
The models seek to accurately represent the instrument’s intricate construction in its entirety, including its sophisticated construction and carvings, the NTCH said in a statement.
Photo: CNA
The pipes were made with two different materials, and the set also includes a representation of the keyboard.
They are to feature prominently in the hall’s guided touch tours on April 25 and May 29, which people can register for on the NTCH’s Web site, it said, adding that more sessions would be added.
The pipe organ was handmade by world-renowned organ-building company Flentrop in the Netherlands, tailored to the architecture and scale of the venue, the NTCH said.
The 9m-long, 14m-wide instrument was the largest pipe organ in Asia at the time of its completion, it said.
The NTCH has been striving to integrate the values of sustainability and inclusiveness into its operations in the past few years, NTCH general and artistic director Liu Yi-ru (劉怡汝) said.
Barrier-free access and facilities were incorporated in its Performing Arts Library during a renovation in 2021, while accessibility services such as performances accompanied by contextual subtitles and audio descriptions are offered at the theater and concert hall, she added.
Following the success of touch tours launched at the National Theater in 2017, the NTCH this year organized similar tours at the National Concert Hall to make the venue more accessible to the visually impaired.
The tour, which lasts about an hour, showcases the plaza outside the hall, the lobby, the seating areas and the pipe organ, the NTCH said.
Visitors are invited to familiarize themselves with the plaza and surrounding areas with a tactile guidebook, and are encouraged to “get a feel for” the marble walls and the handrails in the lobby, it said.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
A 23-year-old Taichung man vowed to drink more water after his heavy consumption of sugary tea landed him in hospital with a kidney infection and sepsis. The man, surnamed Lin (林), used to drink two cups of half-sugar oolong tea while working at a food stall, where he often had to wait a long time before urinating. Lin developed kidney stones and noticed blood in his urine, but ignored the issue after taking medication for three days. A month later, he went to the emergency room after experiencing a recurring fever and was diagnosed with a kidney infection that led to sepsis, landing