A Blueprint of Colourful Dreams for West Kowloon
Today marks a watershed moment for Hong Kong’s arts and cultural scene. Three world-class master planning teams will unveil their conceptual plans for the West Kowloon Cultural District, ushering in a three-month Stage 2 Public Engagement Exercise (PE2) under the theme, “Celebrate West Kowloon: Create a Vision Together”.
The significance of the Conceptual Plans for the District goes far beyond plain 2D layouts or a set of planning parameters. One challenge is how to reflect within a 2D plan four-dimensional concepts – bringing to life a 3D layout of the District that stands the test of time.
Another challenge is how to help our abstract ideas on arts and culture take root and grow within the District.
Yet another is searching for breakthroughs while working under constraints imposed by statutory planning parameters, physical setting and the surrounding environment.
But the biggest challenge yet is how to realise the colourful dreams and expectations of the Hong Kong people about the District, crystallising them into a vivid blueprint.
The three Conceptual Plans are the brainchildren of three world-class master planning teams, who were intensively involved in PE1 and have devoted the best of their experience and creativity. They also went through rounds upon rounds of deliberations with the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. Examination of their Plans will reveal how influential public opinions have been in developing these Plans.
Guided by the Outline Zoning Plan, the planning principles set down by the Authority and public opinion, each of the three Plans displays its own character and boundless imagination.
As distinct from one another as the Plans are, there are also common threads running through all three. The District must, for example:
The Plans will be displayed at roving exhibitions at different locations across the territory over the next three months. The Authority will use various means to engage the public in a comprehensive and interactive manner, including public forums, dedicated forums for stakeholder groups, the Authority’s website, social networking websites and questionnaires. We want to gauge the views of the people of Hong Kong on the general design and specific features of the Plans, through which—and together with expert assessment—the Authority can identify a preferred Plan.
Pluralism and inclusiveness lie at the heart of arts and culture, and should equally apply to the planning of the District. There will be no single winner. When examining the plans, we would like to extract the best elements of each Plan through the engagement exercise and incorporate them into the final Plan.
Results from PE1 show that the public would like the District to grow organically, and that the supply and demand of arts and cultural facilities should match each other as the District takes shape. Therefore, another objective of PE2 is to flesh out the timetable for building and opening different facilities of the District, especially the arts and cultural facilities. The consultant appointed by the Authority has conducted market analysis studies for the District’s museums and performing arts venues. Based on the findings, the plans recommend concrete timetables for the various facilities, so we would also like to widely canvass views on this important question.
The District aims to be one of the best of its kind in the world. It is already on the international art map. Further to the Shanghai World Expo, where the District is being introduced to the world in the Hong Kong Pavilion, the Authority is also collaborating with the Hong Kong Institute of Architects to showcase the three Plans at the Venice Biennale 12th International Architecture Exhibition through exhibition and a special forum. By participating in this world-renowned exhibition, we can benefit from the ideas and views of some of the world’s top architects and artists.
The District carries with it a mission to catalyse the development of arts and culture in Hong Kong. The executive artistic team of the Authority has been formed, and it has already begun planning various arts and cultural activities in the community to build up the District’s cultural software alongside its hardware. Branding, positioning and content-building will also be important considerations as we continue this journey from dream, to blueprint, to reality.
We do all of this with one vision in mind: to bring people to the arts, and arts to the people.
Henry Tang
Chairman, Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority