Core Pacific City, also known as the Living Mall (), was a shopping center in Songshan District,

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

History

The shopping mall was built in 2001. During the mall's development and construction, it was touted as the world's first truly 24-hour mall and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

's first "city within a city" complex. When it first opened, the mall was open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Before Core Pacific opened in 2001, its management had been fined by the Taipei city government for failing fire safety inspections. Further fines were levied when the mall opened to the public without actually first obtaining an operating license. In February 2002, a fire at the mall required the evacuation of 20,000 people. The fire was determined to be

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

, and in July 2002 former Core Pacific official Lin Chang-cheng (林長成) was convicted of the crime along with two others, Wang Lin-kwun (王林坤) and Lin Ching-chi (林清吉). Losses were estimated at NT$12 million. The opening of

Taipei 101 Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...

's mall in 2003 was expected to affect the revenues of Core Pacific's tenants, although less severely than at other malls due to Core Pacific's lower price points. In 2004, the mall's management company was cited by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission for unfair trade practices relating to a

gift certificate A gift card also known as gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK is a prepaid stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for purchases within a par ...

promotion campaign. In March 2018, the Core Pacific Group put up the shopping mall for auction with real estate broker

Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois. Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real estate services firms, with revenu ...

. The auction opened to the public on 12 December 2018 with an opening price of NT$38 billion. Core Pacific City closed on 30 November 2019 and subsequently demolished. On its final day of operation, 100,000 people came to the mall.

Architecture

The shopping mall had a total floor space of 204,190 m². The structure was a complex of two buildings - an L-shaped building which contains specialty boutiques connected to a sphere which contains the Mira Department Store. The complex consisted of 12 above-ground stories and 7 underground levels. Core Pacific's total 19 story height is attributed to Taipei's extremely expensive land costs. The sphere, considered to be Core Pacific's most dominant and visible feature, is 11 stories tall and clad in

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

imported from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

, while the L-shaped portion features granite from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. The mall's architects were the

Jerde Partnership Jonathan Adams Jerde, (January 22, 1940 – February 9, 2015) was an American architect based in Venice, Los Angeles, California, founder and chairman of The Jerde Partnership, a design architecture and urban planning firm specializing in the des ...

and Artech, Inc. Jerde won the 2002 Gold Nugget Special Award of Excellence at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference/Western Building Show for its effort. The engineering firm Arup was also recognized in 2002 for its work on the mall with a Structural Engineering Association of California Award for Excellence.Structural Engineering Association of California Awards for excellence , Arup

In popular culture

* The mall appeared on ''

The Amazing Race 19 ''The Amazing Race 19'' is the nineteenth season of the American reality television show ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two competing in a race around the world. The season premiered on CBS on September 25, 2011, and the fin ...

'' as the site of a

Hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probab ...

task for the Vegas showgirls Kaylani & Lisa, where they had to perform an indoor

bungee jump Bungee jumping (), also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a ...

. * In the 2003 video game ''

SimCity 4 ''SimCity 4'' is a city-building game, city-building Construction and management simulation games, simulation Personal computer game, computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was released on January 14, 2003. It is t ...

'' developed by

Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by EA in 1997. Maxis is best known for its simulation games, including '' The S ...

, the mall was selected as a landmark which players can choose to build in their cities.

References

External links

Photo of sphere, exterior

Wired Magazine ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San F ...

Seismic design study
by Arup
Emporis data
{cbignore, bot=medic 2001 establishments in Taiwan 2019 disestablishments in Taiwan Former buildings and structures in Taiwan Buildings and structures destroyed by arson Shopping malls disestablished in 2019 Shopping malls established in 2001 Defunct shopping malls in Taiwan Shopping malls in Taipei

History

Architecture

In popular culture

See also

References

External links