Archinect - News

Zaha Hadid Architects' XRL Topside Development construction reaches roof level in Hong Kong

2024-05-28T18:25:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has posted a new construction update on its forthcoming XRL Topside Development at the Hong Kong High-Speed Rail West Kowloon Terminus.

The project, which adds 3.2 million square feet of civic, office, and retail spaces above the existing train station, includes two pairs of towers connecting with a large landscaped central plaza area and a sculptural pavilion, each designed to resemble flower pedals and located at either end of the site.

Rendering: Superview, image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Rendering: Atchain, image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Construction has now progressed to the roof level of the new structures. The firm says they are targeting a LEED Platinum certification as well as other industry credentials for sustainability on the development, which also yields a total of 100,000 square feet of garden terraces.

Rendering: Atchain, image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Rendering: Hayes Davidson, image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

UBS is said to...

M+ museum receives donations from Herzog & de Meuron including Bird's Nest stadium model

2023-03-21T13:51:00-04:00

Hong Kong's M+ museum of contemporary visual culture has announced a two-phase donation by Herzog & de Meuron, the firm behind its design.

The first phase of the donation consists of a section model of the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Beijing National Stadium (in collaboration with artist Ai Weiwei), known as the “Bird’s Nest”, which was the main site at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Installation view of the National Stadium section model at the M+. Photo: Lok Cheng. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong.

The second phase will include a selection of process materials from the firm’s key projects in Asia and elsewhere. This donation makes M+ the first museum in Asia to boast a significant holding of materials related to the work of Herzog & de Meuron.

Detail of the National Stadium section model. © Herzog & de Meuron. Photo: Lok Cheng. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong.

The “Bird’s Nest” model is currently on display in M+’s East Galleries as part of an ongoing exhibition titled Things, Spaces, Interac...

Rocco Design Architects' Hong Kong Palace Museum is officially open

2022-12-09T19:14:00-05:00

A new civic landmark in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District is being celebrated after Rocco Design Architects Associates (RDA)’s Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) officially opened its doors to the public.

The 30,000-square-meter (323,000-square-foot) museum’s design pays homage to the Beijing Palace Museum, from which it drew 900 of its collection’s objects, relying on a vertical sequence of three stacked atria that reference Hong Kong’s dense urban landscape in order to draw visitors upwardly through an interior again based on the “spatial experience” of the Palace’s sequential courtyards.

Image courtesy Rocco Design

The new building sits adjacent to the Cultural District’s Art Park and offers sweeping views of nearby Victoria Harbor. Museumgoers enter the structure through a pavilion that frames a “grand elevated plaza” in a nod to the gates of Beijing’s Forbidden City. Once inside, a spine-like central staircase connects the 7,800 square meters (84,...

Jacques Herzog previews the M+ Museum and more of HdM's upcoming projects

2021-11-02T12:48:00-04:00

Architecture is the art of facts. You do a building or you don’t, and if you do a building, do it right. We shouldn’t have a moralistic standpoint. But make things so that they work, they are sustainable and they are beautiful.

The 71-year-old architect discussed the highly-anticipated M+ Museum which finally opens this month in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District. The Guardian also talked to Herzog about an upcoming library project for the state of Israel as well as his new headquarters for drugmaker AstraZeneca.

“Architecture continues to be a great business because it’s all about life,” he told the Observer's architecture critic, Rowan Moore, saying that he spent the pandemic contemplating "actually what I can do. I’m not so young any more. What do I want to do and how helpful can my business be in that endeavour? I’m pretty happy, but I’m also somehow scared of how vulnerable the world has become.”

The new museum opens on November 12th.

Herzog & de Meuron's new M+ museum in Hong Kong finally gets an opening date

2021-09-09T08:00:00-04:00

An opening date has been set for the long-anticipated M+ Museum in Hong Kong after years of delays.

The $750 million project from Herzog & de Meuron is being heralded as Asia’s largest and most significant center for contemporary visual art and was seen as the centerpiece of Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District when it was first announced in 2003.

Construction wrapped earlier in the year on the 700,000-square-foot facility which houses a 6,400-piece collection of contemporary art, media, and architecture across 33 galleries with a host of other amenities that includes three cinema-sized theaters and a research center.

Photo courtesy Kevin Mak. © Kevin Mak Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.

Featuring a terracotta-clad facade with a south-facing LED display, the museum forms a T-shape with a podium and tower that stands over a triple-height installation space meant to give visitors a vertical orientation to the new...

Take a look inside Herzog & de Meuron's recently completed M+ museum in Hong Kong

2021-03-15T17:24:00-04:00

Designed by Herzog & de Meuron in partnership with TFP Farrells and Arup, the new M+ building has recently wrapped up construction and is set to open to the public later this year. This permanent home for the museum of contemporary visual culture is prominently located in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District on the Victoria Harbour waterfront.

The M+ building, exterior. Video: Fallout Media. Courtesy of M+

The 65,000 square-meter / 700,000 square-foot structure will house 17,000 square meters / 183,000 square feet of exhibition space across thirty-three galleries as well as three theaters, a mediatheque, a learning hub, a research center, museum shops, restaurants, a tea and coffee bar, a members lounge, office spaces, and a roof garden.

The M+ building, roof garden and LED facade. Video: Fallout Media. Courtesy of M+

"M+ certainly has the potential to become the major visual culture museum in Asia," said H&dM founding partner, Jacques Herzog. "It best expresses where we sho...

“Floating Art Platform” - winner of the West Kowloon Arts Pavilion competition

2014-02-07T20:36:00-05:00

Here's a better look into the first-place entry of the West Kowloon Arts Pavilion Design Competition by VPANG architects ltd + JET Architecture Inc + Lisa Cheung. Their proposal 'Floating Art Platform' will be realized into the new Arts Pavilion as part of the growing development of Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District.

You can find out more on Bustler.

XML’s Arts Pavilion proposal for the West Kowloon Cultural District

2014-02-04T00:01:00-05:00

In light of the recent conclusion of the Arts Pavilion Design Competition for Hong Kong's developing West Kowloon Cultural District, Dutch design practice XML shared their competition entry "A²" with us. Although they were met with stiff competition and didn't place, their proposal is still worth knowing about.

Catch a glimpse of how XML would've designed the pavilion.

Find more project details on Bustler.

Winners of the West Kowloon Cultural District Arts Pavilion

2014-02-03T20:45:00-05:00

Development plans for Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) continue to grow with the recently concluded Arts Pavilion Design Competition, wherein the new waterfront pavilion will become the main exhibition space for the to-be-built M+ Museum. The new Arts Pavilion is set to be built by 2015.

The jury chose three prize winners out of 100 submissions:

1st Prize: VPANG architects ltd + JET Architecture Inc + Lisa Cheung

2nd Prize: ROGERSPARTNERS and Arthur C. S. Kwok Architects & Associates

3rd Prize: Hestia & Vish Limited

Six honorable mentions were also selected: Matheson Whiteley and Andrew Lee King Fun & Associates Architects Ltd; ESKYIU and LEAD; O Studio Architects Limited with ARCA Limited; Jägnefält Milton with Leigh & Orange Ltd; David Kohn Architects with TFP Farrells; and Nina Lesser, Michel Chung, Man Hok Wai, Nic Banks, Glory Wang.

Find additional details on Bustler.

Interview: Aric Chen on M+ Museum's First Architecture Exhibition

2014-01-30T13:50:00-05:00

Can a museum collect architecture? The answer, say the curators of Hong Kong’s museum of visual culture, is yes. Though it won’t open its doors until 2017, M+ has already staged a number of exhibitions across the city, from 2012’s multi-site “Yau Ma Tei” to last year’s “Inflation!,” a collection of inflatable sculptures displayed on the grounds of its future home, the West Kowloon Cultural District.

Previously: Herzog & de Meuron / TFP Farrells Win M+ at West Kowloon Cultural District

Herzog & de Meuron / TFP Farrells Win M+ at West Kowloon Cultural District

2013-06-28T18:37:00-04:00

The team Herzog & de Meuron + TFP Farrells is the winner of the international competition to design M+, Hong Kong's future museum for visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District. The winning team will work closely with the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority over the next four years to design and deliver the ambitious project which is scheduled for completion in 2017.

Six teams were shortlisted in December last year and invited to submit conceptual designs for the building, including the international design heavy hitters Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Shigeru Ban Architects + Thomas Chow Architects, Snøhetta, and Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects + Benoy Limited.

Previously: Shortlist Announced for M+ at West Kowloon Cultural District

Shortlist Announced for M+ at West Kowloon Cultural District

2012-12-10T14:22:00-05:00

Earlier today the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority announced the winners of the competition for the Xiqu Centre. Also unveiled today was the shortlist of six design teams that have been invited to submit proposals for the architectural design of M+, Hong Kong’s future museum for 20th and 21st century visual culture within the District.

The six shortlisted teams are:

Herzog & de Meuron + TFP Farrells
Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Shigeru Ban Architects + Thomas Chow Architects
Snøhetta
Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects + Benoy Limited

UPDATE: Herzog & de Meuron / TFP Farrells Win M+ at West Kowloon Cultural District

Bing Thom & Ronald Lu Chosen to Design Xiqu Centre at West Kowloon Cultural District

2012-12-10T14:16:00-05:00

The two Hong Kong-born architects, Bing Thom in Vancouver and Ronald Lu of Hong Kong, were announced today as the collaborating lead architects on the architectural design of the Xiqu (Chinese opera) Centre, one of the landmark cultural venues for the West Kowloon Cultural District, scheduled for commissioning in 2016

Seven Teams Shortlisted for New Art-Themed Park at West Kowloon Cultural District

2012-11-08T14:09:00-05:00

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) announced today 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 seven shortlisted design teams (in alphabetical order) are:

Cook Robotham Architectural Bureau and VOGT Landscape
Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man with Grimshaw, West 8 and ACLA
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

Xiqu Center Shortlist Announced for Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District

2012-07-19T18:41:00-04:00

A shortlist of five design teams was announced this week by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA). The selected teams are now invited to submit proposals for the design of the Xiqu Center, one of the first landmark buildings for the West Kowloon Cultural District, the largest cultural project in Hong Kong to date.