Hong Kong came closer to materialising its dream – a cultural district of its own. After consulting the public last year, three master planning teams (Foster + Partners, Rocco Design Architects Ltd, Office for Metropolitan Architecture) unveiled their conceptual plans for the West Kowloon Cultural District (‘the District’) on 20 August at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Around 200 guests and stakeholders attended the official kick-off ceremony which marked the beginning of the three-month long Stage 2 Public Engagement exercise.

Chairman of the Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority "WKCDA", the Honourable Henry Tang Ying-yen, emphasised in the opening speech about the importance of public participation in the engagement exercise. He said, “Keep coming and revisit the plans and you will always find something new, you will always find it fascinating, and you will always find that there are certain aspects you have missed on your first encounter.”

Professor Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, Chairman of the Consultation Panel of the WKCDA, echoed Mr. Tang’s words and noted the vital role of the public in shaping the District. He highlighted the various means through which the public could express their opinions. Apart from questionnaires, email and fax, discussions would be thrown open on the Facebook Group “West Kowloon Plaza”. Professor Cheung also mentioned that the public can join roving exhibitions, forums and guided tours to allow them to have a better understanding about the three conceptual plans.

Each master planning team then presented their conceptual plan options to the audience. They were City Park, by Foster + Partners; Cultural Connect: Key to Sustained Vitality, by Rocco Design Architects Ltd; and Project for a New Dimension, designed by OMA. The three presentations were greeted with warm welcome and enthusiastic applause.