M+ Museum in Hong Kong announces 2021 opening
Herzog and de Meuron's much-anticipated design completes, as the Hong Kong visual culture museum sets its sights on a 2021 opening
The awaited M+ visual culture museum in Hong Kong designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron will open in 2021, it has been announced. The structure – construction now complete – has drawn considerable attention since plans were first announced almost a decade ago.
Located in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, M+ is the first global museum of contemporary visual culture in Asia dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design, architecture, and moving image. There will also be a curatorial emphasis on Hong Kong visual culture from across the last two centuries. The museum has already produced a number of off-site and satellite exhibitions, and even an international symposium, but the completion of its ‘forever home' on the Victoria Harbour waterfront is an anticipated development, with the monumental structure long-lauded as one of the museum's most impressive attributes.
The museum – with a total footprint of 65,000 sq m, including 17,000 sq m of exhibition space across 33 galleries – is shaped like a ‘T', with horizontal and vertical volumes intersecting. The slender tower is topped by an expansive podium, offering unobstructed views of the waterfront.
The tower and a second-floor podium (housing much of the exhibition space, intended to create a seamless visitor experience) are formed from concrete structures clad in ceramic tiles that reflect changing light and weather conditions. This is a departure from the predominantly glass and steel façades favoured by nearby skyscrapers. The tower façade also features an LED display system, which will broadcast content from and related to the museum, adding a sense of interactivity to the already electric Hong Kong skyline.
Jacques Herzog, founding partner of Herzog & de Meuron, says M+ is ‘locally inspired, but at the same time universal and open; it is for the people and visitors across the world’. He articulates that diversity is intrinsic to the museum's DNA. ‘[The museum] best expresses where we should go as a world culture, where diversity, equality, and access to art of all kinds are expressed from the very beginning.'
Herzog & de Meuron – in collaboration with TFP Farrells and Arup – won the coveted design project against keen competition (think: Snøhetta, Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Toyo Ito & Associates) in 2013.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.
-
'I’m So Happy You Are Here' chronicles the work of Japanese women photographers
Subtitled ‘Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now’, this new monograph from Aperture is a fascinating insight into a critically overlooked body of work
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Postcard from Paris Design Week 2024
Surrealism, restraint and a beautiful show of Blunk marked the new season of design events in the French capital
By Dan Thawley Published
-
Hermès cuts a dash with its first sports watch for women
The Hermès Cut epitomises the clean design codes of the house
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: meet the practices
In the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2024, our latest guide to exciting, emerging practices from around the world, 20 young studios show off their projects and passion
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Tsing-Tien Making's approach is rooted in its 'passion' for architecture
Tsing-Tien Making, a young Chinese practice, joins the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Gulbenkian Foundation's new art centre by Kengo Kuma is light and inviting
Lisbon's Gulbenkian Foundation reveals its redesign and new contemporary art museum, Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM), by Kengo Kuma with landscape architects VDLA
By Amah-Rose Mcknight Abrams Published
-
'Famous but understudied': IM Pei exhibition at M+ in Hong Kong is a deep dive into the architect's legacy
'IM Pei: Life is Architecture' is an exhibition celebrating the global icon; and it's just opened at M+ in Hong Kong
By Ijeoma Ndukwe Published
-
Fotografiska Shanghai invites us to 'a poetic immersion' into the realm of photography
Fotografiska Shanghai by AIM Architecture opens nestled into a green corner of the Chinese city's Suzhou Creek
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Chinese community hall brings contemporary minimalism to its historical site
A new Chinese community hall in Wanghu Village, designed by UAD, effortlessly blends old and new in minimalist architecture
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Gong House is a contemporary Chinese home drawing on its spectacular countryside context
Gong House by Shenzhen-based Various Associates is a modern family home nestled in the Chinese countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The ZGC International Innovation Center in Beijing is a futuristic addition to China's own 'Silicon Valley'
The ZGC International Innovation Center by MAD Architects completes, revealing a new hub for technology and modern ideas that co-exists with its surroundings
By Tianna Williams Published