West Kowloon Cultural District

West Kowloon Cultural District
Traditional Chinese	西九龍文娛藝術區
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xījiǔlóng Wényúyìshùqū Yue: Cantonese Jyutping sai1 gau2 lung4 man4 jyu4 ngai6 seot6 keoi1

The model of one of the plans

The West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD, Chinese: 西九龍文娛藝術區) is a proposed and developing project to boost cultural and entertainment establishments at Hong Kong, SAR. Located at the wedge-shaped waterfront reclaimed land west of Yau Ma Tei, the district will feature a new modern art museum, numerous theatres, concert halls and other performance venues under the management of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, which is directly financed by the government with one-off funding of HK$21.6 billion for construction and operation.

The 23-hectare Great Park will be the setting for five significant buildings, out of 17 structures. The five iconic structures will be Xiqu Centre on Canton Road, MPV (mega performance venue), the M+ museum, Contemporary Art Museum and the Concert Hall. The facilities are expected to be completed in phases starting from 2015. Architect Norman Foster said, "It is unparalleled. There is no political or cultural initiative of this scale anywhere in the world which celebrates culture."

The early proposal of the project was once overturned in 2006 due to doubts on financing models and lack of planning. As the project returned to track in 2006, public consultation were being carried out again and the early stages were completed in December 2007 to decide what facilities to offer and how they would be managed, but conceptual plans to lay out the facilities are yet publicized for consultation as of April 2009.

The project was first proposed to attract tourists to Hong Kong, but the focus of discussion thereafter has turned to the benefits for the local residents, both intellectually and economically.

In early 2011, it was expected that the first phase of the project will open from 2015, and the second phase from 2026.

Introduction

Location

The wedge-shaped development site is 40 hectares in area, lies within the Yau Tsim Mong District and is bounded by Canton Road in the east, the Western Harbour Crossing entrance and Austin Road West in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the west and south. It can be seen here on Google Map.

Development history

Origin

In 1996, the Hong Kong Tourism Board took a survey of tourists visiting Hong Kong. The survey suggested that many of the tourists thought Hong Kong was lacking in cultural opportunities. The Hong Kong Tourism Board made a suggestion to Legco in 1998, proposing that new venues for art exhibitions and other cultural events be established. In the Chief Executive's Policy Address of 1998, Tung Chee Hwa proposed the establishment of the West Kowloon Cultural District, hoping to develop Hong Kong as the hub for Culture and Art of Asia.

Design competition

An international design competition was organized in April 2001 to design the district and the ten-member judge panel selected the gigantic canopy design scheme submitted by Foster and Partners as the winner under eight aspects, which included "skillful integration of complexes", "singularity of image" and "viability".

Invitation for proposal

On 5 September 2003, the government announced an Invitation For Proposals for the Development of the district. While the government required provision of certain specified facilities, proponents were allowed considerable freedom in developing viable proposals—in the other words, the developers can sell residents and office space located in the lot for profit as they fulfill the government's requirements as outlined as follow:

Three theatres with at least 2,000, 800 and 400 seats respectively; A performance venue with at least 10,000 seats; A cluster of four museums at least 75,000 square metres in size; An art exhibition centre at least 10,000 square metres in size; A water amphitheatre; At least four piazzas; and A canopy covering at least 55% of the development area.

Three proposals respectively submitted by Dynamic Star International Limited, Sunny Development Limited and World City Culture Park Limited were then consulted with the public from December 2004 to June 2005 in order to select the final proposal. Here are the shortlisted designs as presented during the six-month public consultation in 2005:

• 
  Norman Foster's original design
• 
  Dynamic Star International's design
• 
  Henderson Land's design
• 
  Yell Lin International's design

First public consultation

The Executive Summary of the consultation report showed the Single-packaged development approach, the canopy, the government supervision and the concept of the project most concerned and discussed in the open questions on the consultation form. The report noted there was a strong voice against the Single-packaged development approach and there was a fear that the WKCD project could evolve into an ordinary property development project. Over half of the written submissions were against the canopy.

As the government renewed conditions for the development, the shortlisted proponents failed to renew their proposals and Chief Secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan said the much-criticised giant canopy - centrepiece of the winning design by architect Lord Foster - would be scrapped with the entire to start all new by a review of the basic facilities to be offered.

Consultative committees

The government appointed members to the Consultative Committee on the Core Arts and Cultural Facilities (CACF) of WKCD on 6 April 2006 and the committee was scheduled to last until June 2007. It re-examined and re-confirmed the need for the CACF for the WKCD as defined in the Invitation for Proposals issued in September 2003.

Second public consultation

The three conceptual plans were unveiled on 20 August 2010 by the WKCD Authority.

• City Park – prepared by Foster + Partners, led by Lord Norman Foster;
• Cultural Connect: Key to Sustained Vitality – prepared by Rocco Design Architects Limited, led by Mr Rocco Yim; and
• Project for a New Dimension – prepared by Office for Metropolitan Architecture, led by Mr Rem Koolhaas.

The Stage 2 Public Engagement exercise will last for three months and run until 20 November 2010.

• 
  City Park - Foster + Partners
• 
  Cultural Connect: - Rocco Design Architects Limited
• 
  Project for a New Dimension - Office for Metropolitan Architecture

Master plan Selection

On 4 March 2011, Foster + Partners' plan, 'City Park had been selected as the master plan out of the three entries. Ronald Arculli — the head of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority as well as the selection board — states that the master plan will be submitted to the Town Planning Board at the end of 2011; construction will start as soon as 4Q 2012. The first phase of WKCD will be able to finish by the end of 2015.

Stage 3 Public Engagement Exercise

The WKCD's Stage 3 Public Engagement Exercise starts on 30 September 2011 at the Thematic Exhibition Gallery in the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre. The focal point of the exhibition will be a giant 1:250 physical model, showing how the future arts hub will look like, featuring major arts and cultural as well as other facilities. To enhance public understanding of the plans, there will also be a digital 3D model, photomontages and panels displaying key information and features. Pamphlets will also be distributed at the exhibition, allowing the public to leave their comments.

WKCD Authority

West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

Abbreviation	WKCDA
Legal status	Authority
Purpose	Artistic
Membership	Private
Chairman CEO	Henry Tang GBS, GBM, JP Michael Lynch, CBE, AM
Website	Http://www.wkcda.hk

A Board of Directors was appointed to position in October. Its chairman is Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen. While government officials and experts were recruited to aid the authority operation temporarily, executives and managers were recruited to independently manage the operation.

The authority has an executive team of seven. Its first Executive Director (Project Delivery), Angus Cheng Siu-chuen, a former executive at Hong Kong Disneyland, was appointed in June 2009 but resigned for 'personal reasons' less than two weeks after taking up the post. Project Director Augustine Ng Wah-keung then led the project on a provisional basis.

On 24 March 2010, Graham Sheffield, formerly artistic director of London's Barbican Centre, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the authority on a three-year, HK$3.5 million-a-year contract. However on 7 January 2011, he too suddenly resigned for "health reasons", just five months after arriving in the job, and was not available to talk to the media. A recruitment exercise to replace Sheffield as chief executive was expected to be launched quickly.

The impact of the two top-level resignations worried art critics and a member of the Legislative Council's home affairs panel, Tanya Chan, who feared that candidates for the job could be deterred by the apparent problems with the project, which could be delayed by a year, to 2020.

On 27 May 2011, Michael Lynch was appointed as CEO of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority by Hong Kong's chief secretary Henry Tang.

Current usage

Part of the site is used as a temporary promenade (West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade) managed by Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which can be accessed immediately to the east of Western Harbour Crossing toll booths, or via a pedestrian entrance close to the bus station to the west of the toll booths.

Bicycles are available for hire, intended for riding along a short waterfront cycle track, which will be removed when the site is developed.

Venues, museums and layout

A key component of the new development will be the M+ Museum, which will focus on four elements - design, popular culture, moving images and visual art.

In June 2010 it was announced that the executive director of the museum will be Lars Nittve, who will lead an executive artistic team of six directors to oversee the management and operations of not only the museum but also the nearby exhibition centre. Nittve was the founder director of the Tate Modern in London. He will take up his new post in January 2011 for a three-year term. Early in his tenure he promises to liaise with local arts stakeholders to overcome his admitted unfamiliarity with the Hong Kong arts scene.

See also

• Hong Kong cultural policy

External links

• West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
• WKCD Public Consultation
• The West Kowloon Cultural Village website
• Temporary waterfront promenade