Zaha Hadid Architects has shared an update about the construction of West Kowloon Terminus development in Hong Kong. Construction work has reached the roof level at the new 3.2 million square foot development above Hong Kong’s High Speed Rail West Kowloon Terminus, as Zaha Hadid Architects explained.

The new development, adjacent to the West Kowloon Cultural District, connects established and emerging neighborhoods with a network of public gardens and landscaped plazas.

The design by Zaha Hadid Architects integrates civic, office, and retail spaces of the highest standards, incorporating with the station and its rooftop park. 

Image © Atchain

The plan consists of two pairs of interconnected office towers located at both the northern and southern ends of the site, enhanced by approximately 100,000 square foot (9,290 square meters) of garden terraces and plazas. The lower five floors of the towers contain atriums with shopping and dining venues.

"At the heart of West Kowloon in Hong Kong, this landmark development is located above the existing West Kowloon Station high-speed rail terminus which has remained in operation throughout construction," said Zaha Hadid Architects. 

"As Hong Kong’s only station on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the terminus is a major gateway between Hong Kong and mainland China."

"Also adjacent to the Kowloon and Austin stations of Hong Kong’s MTR metro network, this new business district integrates with a key section of the 1.5 km landscaped pedestrian West Kowloon Parkway, giving the communities within Kowloon direct access to the harbourside and parks of the West Kowloon Cultural District," the office added.

Image © Atchain

At the heart of the towers is a large central plaza featuring a sculptural pavilion that houses panoramic lifts to connect to the levels below. Connecting with the West Kowloon Parkway, the plaza is enriched with many sheltered outdoor gathering spaces for relaxation, recreation, and public events.

While the scheme complements the unique geometry of West Kowloon Terminus, the development’s composition aims to maximize outdoor public space and enhance natural ventilation throughout the district. Additionally, it also contributes to preventing each tower from being overlooked by its neighbouring building.

According to ZHA, this configuration also references the ridges of the Kowloon mountains to the north and adheres to height restrictions that preserve mountain views across the harbor on Hong Kong Island.

Image © Hayes Davidson

The towers, reaching up to 2.6 million square feet of Grade A people-centric workspace, have approximately 72,000 square feet (6,689 square meters) of floorplates. The floors are largely column-free and adaptable to current and future work configurations.

The towers incorporate floor-to-ceiling heights of at least 3 meters, providing panoramic views over Hong Kong and access from all floors to planted outdoor terraces for occupants’ wellbeing.

"Divided into a series of interconnected ‘petals’ each with a different orientation and height, the towers define a dynamic silhouette on the West Kowloon’s skyline," said Zaha Hadid Architects. 

"The top of each tower tapers inward to reduce their perceived volume while the façade’s vertical shading pleats extend over each rooftop, creating ‘halos’ that shelter roof terraces and sky gardens."

Image © SuperView

Intertwined with the new landscaped terraces and town hall square above the station, the towers taper inwards at the lower levels. This scheme reduces footprints to increase outdoor space while promoting pedestrian circulation and airflow.

As ZHA noted, the scheme aims to achieve an "excellent" BREEAM rating as well as the highest rating of LEED, WELL and HK BEAM Plus pre-certification. 

The project includes high-performance facades with low thermal transfer values and solar shading fins. It is planned to reduce the energy demand from the city's electricity grid with photovoltaic panels integrated into the roof level and facade.

Additionally, the building is planned as a centralized facility consisting of high-efficiency HVAC systems combined with seawater cooling, heat recovery and a smart building management system that automatically monitors and controls services.

The development is planned to achieve the highest standards of comfort and air quality, ensuring a significant reduction in energy consumption.

Image © Zaha Hadid Architects

Elevation West. Image © Zaha Hadid Architects

Elevation East. Image © Zaha Hadid Architects

ZHA said that "upon completion, global wealth manager UBS will be consolidating their various Hong Kong operations into a tower within the development."

ZHA recently won a competition to design the Riga Ropax Terminal for a new passenger and ro-ro cargo terminal in Riga, Latvia. The firm is working on the renovation of the Le Schuylkill Tower, the first high rise building constructed in 1963 in Monaco. Additionally, the firm completed a new office and retail tower that features fluid and continuous vertical golden fins in Prague in the Czech Republic. 

Project facts
Client: Max Century (HK) Ltd and Century Opal Ltd
Project Manager: Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (SHKP)
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA)
ZHA Design: Patrik Schumacher
ZHA Director: Chris Lepine
ZHA Project Directors: Ed Gaskin, Bianca Cheung, Oliver Bray
ZHA Project Associate: Inês Fontoura
ZHA Project Leads: Michael Cheung, Kelvin Ma, Ganesh Nimmala, Theodor Wender, Adrian Yiu
ZHA Project Team: Karthikeyan Arunachalam, Anthony Awanis, Sam Butler, Gerry Cruz, Steven Chung, Kaloyan Erevinov, Thomas Frings, Brandon Gehrke, Zachariah Hong, Leo Liu, Tom Liu, Maria-Christina Manousaki, Pray Mathur, Anastasiia Metelskaia, Irena Predalic, Haseef Rafiei,  Dhruval Shah, Hunter Sims, Vincent Yeung
ZHA Competition Directors: Chris Lepine, Sara Klomps
ZHA Competition Project Director: Ed Gaskin, Bianca Cheung
ZHA Competition Associate: Oliver Bray, Gerhild Orthacker
ZHA Competition Team: Fernando Alvarenga, Thomas Bagnoli, Niran Buyukkoz, James (Chun-Yen) Chen, Michael Cheung, Martin Gsandtner, Will (Han Hsun) Hsieh, Berkin Islam, Tiffany Lee, Cheryl Lim, Miroslav Naskov, Ganesh Nimmala, Irena Predalic

Consultants
Executive Architect: Wong & Ouyang (HK)
Structural Engineers: Arup Group
Quantity Surveyor: Rider Levett Bucknall
Cost Consultant: Rider Levett Bucknall
Environmental Consultant: Ramboll Hong Kong
Façade Engineering: Hiersemenzel & Associates
M&E Engineering: Sun Hung Kai Architects & Engineers Limited and AECOM
Transport Consultant: MVA Asia
Fire Engineer: AECOM
Landscape Consultant (Preplanning): Gillespies
Landscape Consultant (Ongoing): Urbis
Lighting Design: Office for Visual Interaction (OVI)  & Iconik
Acoustic Consultant: Westwood Hong & Associates
Sustainability: Arup Group

Top image in the article © Hayes Davidson.

> via Zaha Hadid Architects

concept under construction West Kowloon Terminus Zaha Hadid Architects