Right design:
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Board Chairman Henry Tang announces the design City Park by Foster + Partners has been selected as the WKCD conceptual plan.
West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority is tasked with developing the WKCD into an integrated arts and cultural district.
Town Planning Board
The Town Planning Board's function is to promote the health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the community through the systematic preparation of plans for the layout of such areas of Hong Kong as the Chief Executive may direct, as well as the types of buildings suitable for erection therein.
Cultural district concept plan selected
March 04, 2011
The design City Park by Foster + Partners has been selected as the conceptual plan for the West Kowloon Cultural District for its primary focus on the long-term development of arts and culture.
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Board Chairman Henry Tang announced the result today, saying the plan has a balanced mix of land uses integrating arts and cultural facilities with other uses, which improves visitor experience and enhances the district's vibrancy.
He said the plan contains proposals to support arts education and cultural software development to facilitate the authority’s work in nurturing arts talent and building audiences. It has a high degree of flexibility which allows swapping of sites to facilitate earlier development of core arts and cultural facilities and it allows public enjoyment of arts and cultural facilities amidst ongoing construction programmes.
It allows room to accommodate temporary arts and cultural activities before the commissioning of permanent facilities, and the innovative clustering concepts create greater synergy between different facilities.
The concept earned the most public support in a public-engagement exercise.
Mr Tang said that without compromising the plan's integrity and completeness, certain preferred elements and features from the two other plans will be incorporated into the development, after considering the technical feasibility.
One plan is Rocco’s Cultural Connect which comprises a well-delineated layout, allowing fine integration of arts and cultural facilities with public open space, and the other plan is OMA’s Project for a New Dimension which demonstrates how a thematic layout can showcase the unique local and traditional characteristics of Hong Kong.
The third stage of the public engagement will be launched before the development plan is submitted to the Town Planning Board.
Mr Tang said the arts and cultural sector is an important partner of the authority, and is being consulted on the positioning of the future arts and cultural facilities so the district will best serve their long-term development.
