Do you know how the Sydney Opera House is an iconic and international travel destination? Well here comes the next big urban icon. The Taichung Convention Center in Taichung City, Taiwan, <– link to Google Maps. The convention center was designed by Beijing based MAD Architects. MAD architects is a young firm made up of some pretty impressive individuals with awards from all over the place. For their first project in Taiwan, these MAD architects have designed something extraordinary. The pleated skin that covers the whole facility is a work of art in its own right, but it also serves a practical purpose too. The practical applications of the pleated skin are air flow throughout the buildings and power via the intergrated solar cells. The concepts of sustainability went beyond mondern thinking to draw on "Eastern philosophy of a harmonized synthesis between human and nature." This large project also took the form from the typical convietion center made up of blocks to a collective form that drapes from one area to the next. This pleated and draped structure will definitely redefine Tiachung from a city to a true International Cultrual Center.