Building An Art Collection

The multi-billion dollar West Kowloon Cultural District is taking shape on 40 hectares of reclaimed harbour-front land. Often controversial and plagued by budget cuts, the project represents a government commitment to the city’s cultural development

- Christopher Dewolf

Dressed in construction boots, a hard hat and a high-vis vest, Louis Yu stands on the roof terrace of one of the under-construction concert venues at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District(WKCD), where he serves as executive director of performing arts, and looks out over the future park. “Young people having a late-night dance party, then old people doing tai chi at six in the morning –  this is our dream,” he says. “This will not be a quiet park. It’s going to be full of activity.” He watches a construction crane lift a pallet of materials. “And it’s finally coming up.”

Following a 2010 competition and public consultation, Foster + Partners was selected to design the cultural district’s master plan. It is unclear how much of the blueprint will be implemented now budget shortfalls have forced the indefinite delay of some of the location’s smaller venues, but Suhanya Raffel, director of the M+ Museum, which is part of the complex, says work is already underway on the most complicated and expensive part of the plan, a vast underground facility to handle motorised traffic, freeing up the ground level to pedestrians and cyclists.

Construction of the 23-hectare Art Park  – quite possibly the most popular aspect of the Foster plan during consultations – is also making progress. The first phase of the park will open in early 2018, with the rest of the park completed the following year.

FREESPACE

The multi-purpose centre for the arts set to rock the cityscape