In attendance were a number of luminaries, among them Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin and TES Chief Executive Officer John Nixon. Both gave speeches before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The new campus, which sits adjacent to the Wenlin Road campus for infants, consists of four main buildings and features an amphitheater, wired classrooms and a library “reading island” with a spectacular view of Yangmingshan.

Beginning with the current academic year, the buildings accommodate some 600 three- to 11-year-old students from the school’s German, British and French sections.

The new campus took over three years to complete from its inception and design to construction and grand opening. Nixon, the school’s CEO, noted that one of the goals of the campus was to “combine form and function.”

“We wanted to make a statement with the aesthetics of the building. The building had to be noticeably European but also very practical and functional,” Nixon explained, adding that the dynamic design of the campus “engages students.”

TES is a non-profit organization with campuses in Taipei and Yangmingshan. Construction of the new campus was funded through the support of the Taiwan government, Taipei City Government and numerous public and private sponsors.