West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) will establish a major center for music, performing and visual arts on a dramatic harbor-front site in the heart of Hong Kong. This project is a great opportunity to enhance the character of Kowloon Peninsula, its unique contrast between nature and urban density. Our approach has been to work from a geographic scale, involving the conception of a strong and unitary landscape. A transposed nature evoking the Peak gives the park its spirit and coherence. Following our proposal (master plan), the typology of a "City Park" has been accepted for the development of the cultural district.

The location of WKCD Park is linked to the specific situation of Kowloon Peninsula that forms the southern part of the main landmass in the territory of Hong Kong. The Kowloon bay, the narrow body of water separating Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula offer this playful archipelago where magnificent games are set in motion, from one site to the next, separated by the presence of water, urban skylines and mountain ranges. The components from nature—the bay, the landscape that is fairly hilly to mountainous with steep slopes—are real and powerful props. They call for an absence of stereotyped connotation and a full range of the proposed landscape structure.

In order to capture and recreate the unique character that makes Hong Kong such a great city, WKCD park had to be located in a quay-like arrangement, another natural horizon line in the overall landscape of Hong Kong.

The district features a magnificent 23-hectare public park – its sculpted terrain, with dense tree planting, will provide shade and shelter, while a series of outdoor terraces and promenades will link the cultural buildings to the waterfront with vistas to Hong Kong Island. An uninterrupted two-kilometer-long harbor-front promenade will give the people of Hong Kong their first chance to look back at the city’s iconic skyline.

To consider the park like a coastline is logical in terms of the dimensions and makes possible the transposition that arises from the observation of natural processes. The shapes produced are recognizable and familiar in that they evoke for everyone the geographical scale and its physical application.