Press Releases

27 September 2013

Design Competition Opens Today for the Arts Pavilion in the West Kowloon Cultural District

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority ("WKCDA") announced today details of the design competition for the Arts Pavilion ("the Pavilion") in the West Kowloon Cultural District ("WKCD") and launched an open invitation to register for participating in the single stage design competition.

The Pavilion aims to provide an exhibition and event space for artists, designers, organisations and other parties planning to stage independent small-scale exhibitions and events on the WKCD site. In the run-up to the completion of the M+, a future museum for 20th and 21st century visual culture, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, in late 2017, the Pavilion will also serve as the museum's primary site for its exhibitions, to further extend the museum's mission into the Park and public sphere.  The Pavilion is planned to be completed in 2015.

The Pavilion is located in the Park on the waterfront with spectacular views overlooking Victoria Harbour, creating the opportunity for proposals to add a connection between the new building and this open landscaped area for larger scale outdoor exhibitions and events.

The WKCDA seeks a design that is cost-effective, original, inspiring, highly-buildable and sustainable. With a gross floor area of 470 square metres, it should be an architecturally innovative solution that demonstrates cost effectiveness in its design to meet the budget of HK$20 million for construction. The Pavilion should present a design that is architecturally innovative while serving content-driven, programmatic and functional needs.

Submission entries will be adjudicated anonymously by a panel of seven jurors co-chaired by Mr. Rocco YIM, a Hong Kong architect and Dr. Lars NITTVE, Executive Director of M+. For further details of the Jury Panel, please refer to Annex. Three winning entries and six commendation entries will be selected. 

To encourage extensive participation, this Competition is open to all interested design teams, including architects, designers, artists, or other related professionals, to take part as "Lead Participant". Individual or group participants who are not the Hong Kong Institute of Architects ("HKIA") Registered Practices will be required to partner with a HKIA Registered Practice. The participating design team shall include a Hong Kong Authorized Person and a Registered Structural Engineer, both registered under the Buildings Ordinance, and a building services engineer. Each Lead Participant is permitted to submit only one entry, but each provider of professional services is permitted to submit another entry as Lead Participant.

Interested parties shall first register for the Competition and the deadline for registration is 12:00 noon on 28 October 2013 (Monday) (Hong Kong Time). Full Design Competition Brief, Rules and Conditions (English only) are available at the WKCDA's website:

http://www.wkcda.hk/en/architectural_competition/artspavilion_design_competition/index.html

Notes to Editors:

West Kowloon Cultural District

The West Kowloon Cultural District is the largest arts and cultural project in Hong Kong to date. Its vision is to create a vibrant cultural quarter for the city, a vital platform for the local arts scene to interact, develop and collaborate, and major facilities to host and produce world-class exhibitions, performances and arts and cultural events. It will provide 23 hectares of open space including ample green space, a green avenue and a harbourfront promenade, and closely connected with the neighbourhood.

The Park

Located at the western end of the WKCD, the Park will accommodate the Arts Pavilion; the Blackbox for Freespace style contemporary multi-disciplinary performances; the Outdoor Stage in the form of an acoustic shell; a modular theatre of about 1200 - 1500 seats; "pop-up" Retail, Dining and Entertainment facilities; cycling tracks and bicycle rental point; waterfront promenade and walks; marine landing facilities; and other recreational and leisure facilities.

M+

Located at the centre of the WKCD, M+ will stand at the boundary between the urban sector and the Park in the overall conceptual plan of the WKCD prepared by Foster + Partners in 2011. As part of the WKCD, M+ is Hong Kong's new museum for visual culture, encompassing 20th and 21st century art, design, architecture and the moving image from Hong Kong, China, Asia and beyond.

From its vantage point in one of the world's most dynamic regions, M+ will document the past, inform the present and contribute to the future of visual culture within an ever more interconnected global landscape.  The museum will take a multidisciplinary approach that both challenges and respects existing boundaries, while creating a meeting point for a diversity of perspectives, narratives and audiences.

M+ has already embarked on a number of public programmes and exhibitions, and has begun to assemble its permanent collection, in the run-up to the planned 2017 completion of the building designed by Herzog & de Meuron/TFP Farrells/Ove Arup, overlooking Victoria Harbour, and next to the Park of the WKCD.

Annex

Jury Panel

Independent Professional Advisor (Honorary)

The WKCDA has appointed Professor Bernard V. Lim, JP 林雲峰教授 as the Independent Professional Advisor (Honorary) for the Competition.