“On the same day that it announced the designers of the new Xiqu Centre, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) has revealed the shortlisted of six design teams – Herzog & de Meuron + TFP Farrells, Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Shigeru Ban Architects + Thomas Chow Arhcitects, SnÃhetta, and Toyo Ito & Associates + Benoy Limited – 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, scheduled for completion in 2017.
At 62,000 square metres, the M+ is an ambitious museum project, on par with The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Situated on the waterfront of the Victoria Harbour at the edge of a 14-hectare park, the architectural brief will be shaped around the museum’s core values. It will provide vital space for artists to meet, exhibit and experiment and will house a world-class permanent collection of Hong Kong, Chinese, and Asian visual culture: art, design architecture and the moving image.
Until the opening of the first buildings in the West Kowloon Cultural District, WKCDA will provide a platform for arts communities to interact, engage, learn and develop and will stage an events program in the new year.”
(From domus 10 December 2012)