The View from West Kowloon
The biennale of architecture and urbanism that took place in West Kowloon earlier this year was underfunded and underattended, but it was also an example of what shape Hong Kong’s future “cultural district” could take. The official plans call for museums, concert halls, public squares and other well-defined, well-regulated spaces, but what the biennale showed was that the most successful and imaginative uses of space are often those that are planned the least. By scattering installations along a waterfront promenade and using an overgrown vacant lot for artistic interventions, film screenings, forums and outdoor concerts, the biennale created its own ad-hoc cultural district, one that was far more thought-provoking than any government-imposed cultural centre could ever be.
Alas, big buildings make for better photo-ops than scruffy fields, so West Kowloon will eventually be dug up and turned into something more respectable. This summer, Sir Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaus and local architect Rocco Yim will unveil three new proposals for the district. Originally, the cultural district was conceived as a tourist attraction, but after it was revealed to be little more than a property-development boondoggle — a single property developer would be given the multi-billion-dollar contract to build the whole thing — it was sent back to the drawing board in 2006. Since then, it has ignited a wide-ranging discussion on the state of the arts in Hong Kong; whatever happens now, it seems clear that public pressure is on the government to ensure that the cultural district exists for the benefit of Hong Kong people, not just for property developers and the businesses that profit from tourism.
It still remains to be seen whether that’s something that Foster, Koolhaus and Yim can incorporate into their designs. Foster’s original plan called for the entire site to be covered by a giant canopy whose swooping form looked like a half-hearted attempt to evoke the Sydney Opera House. Now Foster has announced that he has come up with an even better design that will include open space “better than Central Park” and the “surprise of something totally different — not what you would expect.” Normally, I’d be worried if a starchitect promises a big surprise, given their propensity for self-indulgence, but in this case I’ll try to be optimistic, if only because I’m a big fan of Foster’s other Hong Kong buildings.
Tags: Development, Hong Kong, Kowloon, Urban Design, West Kowloon Cultural District
