The WKCDA (West Kowloon Cultural District Authority) has made two big announcements today: (1) the winners of the competition to design the Xiqu Center, what will be the District's first landmark building; and (2) the shortlist of six architects who will compete to design the M+ Museum for Visual Culture. The Museum and Center are part of a Masterplan, designed by Foster + Partners, to transform Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District into a world-class destination for arts and culture.
Hong-Kong born architects Bing Thom and Ronald Lu (of Bing Thom Architects and Ronald Lu & Partners) beat out the Master-planners themselves, Foster + Partners, to design the Xiqu Center, the "gateway of access" to the district, scheduled for commissioning in 2016.
The designer for the M+ Museum has yet to be determined, however, and, judging by the 6 world-famous architectural firms shortlisted, the competition is sure to be fierce.
Find out the complete list of architects, including Herzog & de Meuron and SNOHETTA, who will compete to design the M+ Museum, after the break...
According to WKCDA's Press Release: "M+ is an ambitious project, the scale of the museum building alone, at around 62,000 square metres, will be on par with the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Situated on the waterfront of the Victoria Harbour at the edge of a 14-hectare park, the architecture brief will be shaped around the museum's core values. It will provide vital space for artists to meet, exhibit and experiment and will house a world-class permanent collection of Hong Kong, Chinese, and Asian visual culture: art, design, architecture and the moving image."
The shortlisted architects are:
- Herzog & de Meuron + TFP Farrells
- Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA
- Renzo Piano Building Workshop
- Shigeru Ban Architects + Thomas Chow Architects
- SNOHETTA
- Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects + Benoy Limited
Story via WKCDA
