West Kowloon Journal: At 700,000 square-feet it’s one of the largest contemporary art museums in the world.

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary art, designed by the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron opened in November, 2021, in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District.  Almost twice the size of London’s Tate Modern, the inverted T-shaped building is now one of the most visible features on the city’s Victoria Harbor waterfront. M+ contains about 8,000 works, and offers one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of contemporary Chinese art.

The official opening was delayed numerous times due to construction and logistics issues, changes in personnel, and the cost, more than $760 million,  was another controversial hold-up.  However, after nine years of on-and-off work, M2 opened its doors to the public by showing exhibitions with over 1,000 works drawn from different areas of strength in the M+ collections.  The desire to visit the new museum is so strong in Hong Kong and that more than 76,000 people had already reserved entry tickets before it even opened.

The West Kowloon Cultural District emerged gradually from the seaport, where the natural harbor was filled with earth section by section  On this reclaimed land sits the site of M+, connected to the city and overlooking the sea, a structure that is not only anchored in its surroundings, but also formed by them. The M+ building is a focal point between the West Kowloon Cultural District and the Park, the Avenue and Victoria Harbor.

M+ is now a major cultural center for 20th and 21st century art, design, architecture, and the moving image, M+ embraces the entire spectrum of spaces to display artwork and activitie, and through its specificity, the building will become a distinctive, singular and unmistakable piece of Hong Kong. But above all, M+ is a public forum, a  platform for the exchange, encounter and activity of people and art.

A covered entrance podium forms a bright, welcoming public space that can be entered from all sides and levels, making accessible the activities of the museum and inviting visitors into the diverse displays. The precise and urban, almost archaic shape,  reiterates the iconic character of Kowloon’s skyline on one hand, yet on the other hand, this convention is subverted by artistic messages transmitted on the surface of the building’s large façade. This oversize screen acts as another gallery, one that can be seen from Hong Kong Island, broadcasting the location of M+ throughout the night.

M+ expresses a vision, for a new institution of visual culture and art for Hong Kong and the world. Emerging up from the ground, above a train tunnel, the building rises up to the sky with its face towards the city, speaking a powerful, yet poetic language of art. After nine years in the making, M+ has finallyopened up to the world.

“The resulting structure is not simply anchored in its surroundings; it is also formed by them. This is a universal place with an inner organisation whose openness and transparency make it possible to link the complexities of the content and the space in many different ways.”

How should a post-industrial space be created from vacant land?   Just 20 years ago, the ground now occupied by the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) was part of the Hong Kong seaport.  In addition to this obstacle, there is an underground tunnel of the Airport Express, which Initially complicated planning. But by uncovering the tunnel, a spectacular space was created for art and design, installation and performance. Combined with an L-shaped Black Box, a reconfigurable Studio Space, direct access to the loading dock as well as a large part of the storage area, a sunken forum and (exhibition) topography has been created.

The horizontal building hovering above this “industrial” landscape houses the more conventional display spaces. As in a city, the arrangement of all the galleries is based on an orthogonal grid. A central plaza provides direct access to the entire exhibition area. This includes not only the temporary exhibitions but also a clearly defined Anchor Room. A tall “Focus Gallery”, with two lateral bands of daylight just below the ceiling, rises out of the horizontal exhibition building and plugs into the lower part of the vertical staff and education building.

Horizon Terrace at M+ with view of Hong Kong and Victoria Harbor.                                                                     (image M+, Hong Kong, courtesy Hezog & de Meuron)

 

A sequence of galleries is accessed from each of the four corners of the central plaza. A specific space introduces each sequence: an elongated sky-lit gallery, a courtyard with direct access to the roof terrace, a room with extensive glass towards West Kowloon Park and an auditorium facing Victoria Harbor. They distinguish and structure the sequence of exhibition spaces, which can in turn be combined or divided into smaller units by additional third spaces. The galleries themselves may be illuminated from above or from the sides; they may be introverted or extroverted. A variety of precise openings in the façade frame views of the Artist Square, the Park and the skyline of Hong Kong Island across the harbor.

In the joint between the “Found Space” and the lifted horizontal exhibition building, there is a spacious entrance area for the public. Instead of building a solid object that blocks off access, light and views, this covered area forms a bright, welcoming platform that can be entered from all sides and levels: open and transparent yet shielded from direct sunlight. It is a forum and focal point between the West Kowloon Cultural District and the Park, the newly built Avenue and Victoria Harbor.

Here, visitors encounter all the uses and activities of M+ at a single glance. Specific functions are assigned to each quadrant of the platform. The museum shop is situated in the corner next to Artist Square. The large temporary exhibition space faces the Park and is accessible directly from the main platform. Overlooking the waterfront promenade and Victoria Harbor, there is the auditorium on one side, and on the other, the glass Learning Center with a public courtyard leading to the rooftop terrace. Ticketing and information desks are located in the center of the lobby. A broad diagonal opening in the floor of the platform affords a view of the excavated “Found Space”, while large ceiling cut-outs allow visitors to see the exhibition level and its intersection with the vertical building as well as a view of open skies.

A member lounge and public restaurants with panoramic views are housed on the top floors of M+. Integrated into the sun-shading horizontal louvers of the façade facing the harbor, an LED lighting system activates the building as a coarse-grained, oversized display screen for selected or especially commissioned works of art and establishes M+ as the newest part of the Victoria Harbor skyline.

Hong Kong Design District (Photo by Keith Tsuji/Getty Images for Hong Kong Tourism Board)