Old meets new: Hong Kong’s new cultural district

In its aim of creating a cultural district that allows old art forms to sit alongside the new, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority is also looking to create a part of Hong Kong not dominated by skyscrapers but a collection of innovative and striking buildings and expansive park that will be entirely car-free. It is not without its challenges. This includes having to protect its £270m centre for traditional Chinese theatre, which opened this year, from the volatile protests that have taken place on its doorstep and have disrupted the city. Duncan Pescod, chief executive of the WKCDA, admits there were concerns given that the landmark Xiqu Centre building – which acts as the gateway to the upcoming 100-acre site – is doorless, making it difficult to protect. However, it escaped unscathed even though the underground railway station next to it suffered damage, including ‘Free HK’ graffiti being sprayed all over it. Pescod points out that the premise of the 322, 917 sq ft state-of-the-art centre, built entirely of metal, is for it to be open and accessible to all. “We deliberately didn’t want this to be an enclosed theatre,” he says. Tea and dim sum The open-arched entrances around the building enable a free flow of visitors through the multi-level circular interior courtyard space and allow natural light in. “We also have these vistas at different points in the theatre so that at intermissions or pre-performance, at night it’s spectacular for the audience,” Pescod adds. The seven-storey centre’s plum-coloured main theatre space is suspended 27m in the air above the public courtyard to protect it as much as possible from noise and vibrations from the underground trains. It contains 1,073 seats and a demountable stage and orchestra pit, which Pescod points out is unusual for Chinese opera, in which the orchestra is usually on the stage. “It’s subverting the normal focus,” he says. He adds that every major artist in the genre wants to perform at the theatre and that the big performances “sell out easily”. The average age for the more than four-hour long main performances is above 60 years and it is this the theatre is seeking to change to preserve the art form and nurture new talent. There is also a 200-seat Tea House theatre which provides “taster performances” of less than two hours while the audience sip on tea and eat dim sum. The building also houses several studios and a seminar room, as well as restaurants and shops.   Performances at the centre have been affected by transportation issues caused by the protests, with several changed to matinees. “We’ve had to adjust a little bit to accommodate the reality of what’s been going on,” Pescod says. However, the first jazz festival held last month in the nearby 32-acre Art Park, where the next buildings to complete will also be located, went ahead as planned with 15,000 people turning up despite the ongoing protests. A new view The Art Park is also where one of the largest visual museums under construction is currently being built. M+, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, will provide 1,700 galleries within its 699, 654 sq ft space come 2021. It will join the recently opened 47, 619 sq ft contemporary performance space, in the warehouse-style building known as Freespace, and a striking futuristic-looking gallery, known as the M+ Pavilion. [caption id="attachment_1012353" align="aligncenter" width="847"] Protesters march through Hong Kong[/caption] The next additions to the district will be the 376,737 sq ft Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2022 and a dance theatre, currently known as the Lyric Theatre. Pescod points out that with the project and its buildings they are “deliberately trying not to replicate existing Hong Kong but respond to it”. The park has 2km of waterfront with views over the urban jungle of the business district on Hong Kong Island, as well as good fishing spots for locals. So far this has cost HK$26bn (£2.5bn), not including the sprawling basement underneath the site being paid for by the government to enable it to be car-free, and now more money is needed to progress the rest of the scheme. At least some of this money is expected to come from the more than 4.8m sq ft slated for office space, which makes up around 20% of the gross floor area, along with the allotted hotel space through value sharing partnerships. The food and beverage and retail within the scheme, which is starting to open at the buildings, will also generate cash for the project, while the authority charged with ensuring delivery of the scheme is debating whether to charge tourists for entrance to the museums, keeping them free for Hong Kong ID holders. The project has a long way to go and will evolve at a considered pace to enable it to build up interest from the local population and tourists, according to Pescod. Judging the success of the project in creating a different environment for central Hong Kong, while “counterbalancing traditional art forms with cutting-edge artisans” alongside offices and hotels, is still a long way off. But with sell-out performances in the Xiqu Centre and an obvious demand for more contemporary forms of music and art with the success of the jazz festival, the WKCDA’s chances seem good for successfully creating a new cultural district that blends the past and modernity. [caption id="attachment_1012362" align="aligncenter" width="847"] The M+ Pavilion[/caption] To send feedback, e-mail louise.dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette