Foster + Partners selected to design masterplan for West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong
Foster + Partners has been selected for the design of the 40-hectare masterplan for West Kowloon Cultural District. City Park will be a major cultural centre for music, performing and visual arts, incorporating public spaces and spaces for Chinese culture, living, working, galleries and studios on a dramatic harbour-front site in the heart of Hong Kong. The announcement was made today by Henry Tang, Hong Kong’s chief secretary and chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, following the results of the international competition including a year-long public consultation. The project is considered to be the largest cultural initiative in the world today.
The proposal sets the cultural buildings as the jewels in a new urban quarter alongside a magnificent 23-hectare public park. Foster + Partners brings its understanding of urban design and knowledge of Hong Kong to a carbon neutral masterplan that captures the unique character that makes it such a great city.
Lord Foster, Chairman and Founder of Foster + Partners:
“This is fantastic news. I have been travelling to Hong Kong for more than 32 years, since the Hongkong Bank first brought us here. This project offers an extraordinary opportunity – it is unprecedented in its scale, scope and vision. City Park will be the catalyst to transform the city locally and regionally, as well as on the world stage. Our design is rooted in Hong Kong’s urban DNA, the distinctive character that makes it such a dynamic city. There really is no other project like it!”
Mouzhan Majidi, Chief Executive of Foster + Partners:
“We are honoured to be designing the masterplan for WKCD. As the selected team, we understand the great expectations that the public and stakeholders have of the project. We have come a long way together over the past 10 years and look forward to continuing our work on Hong Kong’s cultural heart. I have happy memories of my seven years living in Hong Kong working on Chek Lap Kok Airport.”
Spencer de Grey, Head of Design at Foster + Partners, said:
“We are thrilled with the result and the positive reaction of the people of Hong Kong to our proposal. The city has great significance for our practice, as well as personal significance – in 1979, I moved to Hong Kong with my wife, setting up our office to work on the Hongkong Bank. We are greatly looking forward to fulfilling Hong Kong’s ambitions to be one of the great cultural cities in the world.”
