What to know about the 4 venues defining Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District
- Conceptualised as one of the world’s largest cultural hubs, the waterfront area comprises museums, performance stages and green space
- Its new architectural landmarks have designs influenced by Chinese culture and distinctive features such as the huge LED screen atop M+ museum
Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) occupies 40 hectares (99 acres) of land on the westernmost tip of the Kowloon peninsula. Fusing art, education and recreational activities amid a collection of impressively designed buildings, this new cultural hub aims to raise the bar for what the city can achieve in the world of modern and contemporary art.
Not only will the district help elevate regional talent to new heights, but it is also contributing to Hong Kong’s expanding portfolio of architectural landmarks. Here are some of the unique features that define the four spaces at WKCD.
World-class museum of visual culture
M+ is the district’s centrepiece – a museum for modern and contemporary art housed in an inverted T-shaped structure that is hard to miss amid Kowloon’s dense cityscape. It’s designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, which created London’s Tate Modern. But M+ is a much larger project, covering a total floor area of 65,000 square metres (700,000 square feet) – nearly twice the size of the Tate.
Upon opening in 2021, M+ will display a world-class collection of interdisciplinary art across 17,000 square metres (183,000 square feet) of exhibition space, and will also offer three cinemas, performance spaces and a lecture theatre.
