This is the key construction of the new West Kowloon area, the master plan of which was developed by Norman Foster. The future museum with an area of 60 thousand m2 is comparable in size to the New York MoMA and claims to be of comparable cultural significance.
The customers of the competition, among other things, wanted to receive from the participants an "industrial" space, obviously similar to the Turbine Hall
Tate Modern galleries of the same Herzog & de Meuron. But, unlike the London Museum, the M + building is not a reconstruction of a power plant, but is being built from scratch, so all the "industrial" elements would have to be imitated.
In response, the winners suggested using an element that made the design difficult at first: the express train tunnel to the airport running under the section. They plan to expand this engineering object into the interior of the museum, creating a “found space” below ground level: it is planned to arrange large-scale installations there, created especially for this hall. The location of a large multifunctional Black Box room next to it, direct access to the loading platform and storehouse further expands the possibilities of artists and curators.
Above the underground part there is a horizontal volume with halls arranged according to a regular plan with a "plaza" in the center. They vary in size, with transformable neutral spaces combined with more characteristic anchor spaces. Many rooms are connected with the environment: from there, there are views of the huge new park adjacent to M +, Artists Square, Victoria Harbor with the center of Hong Kong behind it.
The building of the museum is completed by the "plate" with offices and classrooms; restaurants, bars and a garden will open on its upper floors. Like the rest of the building, its facades will be covered with blinds, but in her case, LEDs will be installed on these blinds, turning the walls into a huge screen for media art. Also, the vertical part of the building fits M + into the development of Kowloon, which, like the whole of Gongong, is characterized by an elongated silhouette.
The architects also envisioned a public space: the horizontal volume is raised above the ground, and from the formed platform one can immediately get to the ticket offices, the museum shop, the glass cylinder of the research center, the temporary exhibition area or the auditorium, as well as look into the “found space” below through A “cut” in the floor or, through a circular opening from above, into the exhibition halls.
In addition to Herzog & de Meuron and TFP Farrells, SANAA, Renzo Piano, Shigeru Ban, together with Thomas Chow Architects, Snøhetta, and Toyo Ito with the support of Benoy Limited entered the final of the competition.
