1 Culteral boulevard 2 Arts pavilion 3 Black box 4 Outdoor stage 5 Big lawn 6 Waterfront promenade 7 Waterfront event space 8 WHC ventilation building 9 MTR ventilation building


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masterplan, with a shortlist that included avant-garde proposals from Rem Koolhaas’ OMA and local architect Rocco Yim. In the end, the public chose yet another plan from Norman Foster, this time based around a grid of pedestrian-only streets running from the dense, older neighbourhoods of Kowloon to a large new park on the site’s western edge. “We approached West Kowloon with a new idea of the cultural district being an extension of the city, infl uenced heavily by the DNA of its streets, alleyways and building blocks,” says Foster. That started with the recognition that “exemplar cultural districts can be, if you’re not careful, terrible urban districts,” says Colin Ward, Foster’s Hong Kong-based partner. “The question we asked ourselves is, how do we make this an extension of the city, but better?” Foster says the masterplan relies on a mix of “anonymous city architecture” with a few


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landmark structures. “We would advocate that, as the architecture is developed, there are a limited number of 'star' buildings within the context of more general background buildings and urban spaces, like streets, squares and parks,” he says. “Public space is the urban glue that binds the city together, and will be central to the success of the new district.”


ACHILLES HEEL? The key to that approach is to banish all vehicular traffi c underground, in a system of subterranean roadways and service entrances. That will free up the entire ground plane for pedestrians and cyclists – a bold statement at a time when Hong Kong’s traf- fi c congestion and air pollution continue to worsen. It may also be the plan’s Achilles’ heel, adding serious cost and technical com- plexity to the project. Last year, some Hong


The latest concept design for the West


Kowloon Cultural District was unveiled in July 2014


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Kong lawmakers urged the government to scrap the underground portion of the plan, which it has so far resisted. To make matters worse, construction of the basement cannot begin until the completion of the adjacent high-speed railway terminus, which is run- ning several years behind schedule. That means Foster’s anonymous urban fabric will have to wait. In the meantime, construc- tion on two of the district’s star buildings, the M+ museum of visual culture and the Xiqu Centre opera house, has already begun. M+ will be designed by Swiss fi rm Herzog & de Meuron, winners of an international compe- tition whose shortlist included fi ve Pritzker winners. Herzog’s design is an austere con- crete cross that stands in sharp contrast to the glossy commercial architecture behind it. While the exterior sent tongues wagging – some likened it to a tombstone – interior


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