On 29th May, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) and the project team celebrated the completion of its second major performing arts venue – Freespace, located in the heart of the Art Park within the West Kowloon Cultural District. West Kowloon Cultural District Art Park is a design by West 8 in collaboration with local partners Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man Architects & Engineers, and Acardis HK (formerly ACLA).
Officiating guests at the press event were Mr Henry Tang Ying-yen, Chairman of WKCDA Board, Mr Wan Man-yee, Chairman of Performing Arts Committee, Mr Duncan Pescod, Chief Executive Officer of WKCDA, Mr Louis Yu Kwok-lit, Executive Director, Performing Arts of WKCDA and Ms Alison M. Friedman, Artistic Director, Performing Arts of WKCDA. Martin Biewenga, West 8 Partner and urban designer, represented the design team at the ceremony.
The newly completed Freespace offers a dynamic, creative and flexible space for arts and cultural events, and is a new platform for artistic experimentation and exploration. As its name suggests, Freespace is a free and creative facility with both indoor and outdoor performing venues where artists and audiences will engage, exchange ideas and explore the endless possibilities of performing arts with no boundaries.
Freespace houses The Box, one of the largest black box theatres in Hong Kong, a flexible space for cutting-edge performances. The Room and The Studio are two multi-purpose spaces designed to be used for creative exchange and artistic collaborations. Freespace is located adjacent to the Great Lawn and other outdoor performance spaces in the Art Park to encourage wide public participation in the arts with free outdoor and indoor contemporary performing arts. It will become one of the most vital and instrumental creative spaces in the city, offering a wide range of performing arts, live concerts, music performances, workshops and festivals all year round.
‘The completion of Freespace underscores the continued growth of the West Kowloon Cultural District. With the final phase of the Art Park and water-front promenade to be completed by the end of 2019, this area will become a focal point for people to immerse themselves in arts and culture.’ said Mr Pescod, Chairman of Performing Arts Committee.
Freespace will open to the public in mid-June of 2019. Programming in The Box at Freespace and current and upcoming events at the Art Park can be found here.
About the West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on forty hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, providing twenty-three hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade. West 8 began the design of the Art Park in 2014 for WKCD’s Park Development Authority. The Art Park is designed upon the master plan of the entire cultural district by Sir Norman Foster.
The Art Park and waterfront promenade is now open to the public within designated opening hours and WKCD’s Park Development Authority offers free Park Tour and Workshop for interested parties. It is the green heart of the cultural district, with a rich variety of trees and green planting as well as open lawn spaces for leisure and relaxation, while offering stunning views of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island. The Art Park provides a vibrant venue for open-air performances as well as art exhibitions and other cultural events. Located here are two venues, the M+ Pavilion, M+’s home for exhibitions while the M+ building is under construction . Construction of Art Park’s last phase of waterfront promenade will continue until the end of 2019.
