Hong Kong West Kowloon Station designed by Andrew Bromberg at Aedas was crowned the Best Public Building Project at LEAF Awards 2019, and shortlisted for Best Achievement in Environmental Performance Project.

Sitting on a prominent site immediately adjacent to Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, as one of the largest below-grade rail terminuses in the world, serves as a gateway to Hong Kong as well as a terminus to the high speed rail network of Mainland China. The organisation of the design was inspired by the idea of forces converging on Hong Kong – wind, pedestrian flows, traffic and tracks coming into the station. Much attention has been given to architectural layering and orientation. The placement of the station entrance at the south-west corner, for instance, provides more frontage and value to the commercial areas, takes advantage of better views of the harbour and eases access, reflecting the urban reality of Hong Kong, and the need for an efficient use of land and floor area resources.

The designer, Andrew Bromberg, maximises civic gestures both externally and internally. At the heart of the station is the enormous 20m-belowground central void. The main interior space is 180m long, with an average width of 65m and a maximum height of 45m. The roof is supported by large, tree-like column-bundles, lifting up 4,000 panes of glass, filling the station with light and allowing millions of passengers their first glimpse of the towers of the city even from the lower levels of the station. With the walkable rooftop, aligned with hundreds of shrubs and trees native to Hong Kong, Bromberg has managed to introduce altogether six hectares of accessible open space to the densest urban realm in the world. The station has become an integral part of Hong Kong, profoundly transforming the way people interact with the city.

The LEAF Awards recognise innovative architectural designs that are setting the benchmark for the international architectural and design community.