West 8 shortlisted for Hong Kong’s Future Art-themed Park at the West Kowloon Cultural District
press release
 
West 8 in partnership with Grimshaw, Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man and ACLA have been shortlisted as design team for Hong Kong’s Future Art-themed Park at the West Kowloon Cultural District.
The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) announced on last Friday a shortlist of seven design teams that have been invited to submit technical proposals for the development of Hong Kong’s first art-themed park, 14 hectares of landscaped public space for arts and culture at the West Kowloon Cultural District, by the waterfront in Kowloon.
The park, targeting to open in phases from 2014/2015, will be the first to be conceived as a cultural destination. The sculpted terrain, with abundant planting, will provide a new green open space in the heart of the city and a vibrant venue for music, dance, theatre, art exhibitions and other free outdoor cultural programmes. The designers will be challenged to maximize the greening opportunities involved and integrate innovative green ideas in their park design.
Twenty-two teams from all over the world expressed interest in being considered for the project, following an open call for Expression of Interest launched in July 2012. The teams were shortlisted by the Development Committee on recommendation from a Working Group of Park Development set up under WKCDA to steer and oversee the exercise.
The six other shortlisted design teams are:
  • Cook Robotham Architectural Bureau and VOGT Landscape
  • Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with Olin and Urbanus
  • Grant Associates/Wilkinson Eyre/WSP
  • Gustafson Porter/Michel Desvigne Paysagiste/Foster + Partners
  • Hargreaves Associates with Ennead Architects
  • James Corner Field Operations
Notes to the editors
  • West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong is one of the largest arts and cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to provide 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.
  • The district will include 17 core arts and cultural venues and 30,000 m2 dedicated to arts education.
  • The park will constitute 14 of 23 ha of open space including a green avenue and open piazzas.
  • The project will be developed in phases, construction is expected to commence in 2013. For more information, please refer to WKCDA.
  • 2011-2012 was the first full year when M+, the future museum for visual culture in WKCD, had a small but growing team in place, led by Executive Director, Dr Lars Nittve. (*1953), the founding Director of London’s Tate Modern and former Director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
  • Image courtesy: Home Affairs Bureau, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
 
 
 
West 8 is an award-winning international office for urban design and landscape architecture founded in 1987. Over the last 25 years West 8 has established itself as a leading practice with an international team of 70 architects, urban designers, landscape architects and industrial engineers. West 8 developed projects all over the world in places such as Copenhagen, London, Moscow, New York, Madrid, Toronto and Amsterdam. The office gained international recognition with projects such as Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam (NL), Borneo-Sporenburg in Amsterdam (NL), Chiswick Park in London (UK) and Expo '02 in Yverdon-les-Bains (CH). Many of the projects are the result of groundbreaking entries in important international competitions. Recently won competitions include Yongsan Park Masterplan in Seoul (KR), Toronto Waterfront in Toronto (CA), Governors Island in New York (USA) and Playa de Palma in Mallorca (ES).
Amongst the numerous awards received by West 8 are the Honor Award of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Lifetime Achievement Award for Architecture 2011, Mondriaan Fund (formerly BKVB),  the International Urban Landscape Gold Award (IULA), the Prix de Rome, the Dutch Maaskant Award, the Bijhouwer Award, the Rosa Barba First European Landscape Prize, the Green Pin and the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for Urban Design.
 
 
 
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