Page 11 - Public Facilities 2016

PUBLIC FACILITIES

ituated in the very heart of Beijing,
the Palace Museum is a UNESCO
S World Heritage Site renowned
for its vast holding of over 1.8 million
artefacts including paintings, ceramics,
calligraphy, and antiquities belonging
to the imperial collections. The Palace
Muse um house s m a ny na t i ona l l y
protected valuable cultural objects, but
only a small fraction of this extraordinary
collection is on display to the public at
any given time given the space constraint.
The Government of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region (HKSARG)
considered the West Kowloon Cultural
District the ideal location for establishing
this unprecedented museum to showcase
the collections of the Palace Museum.
As one of the worlds most ambitious
cultural and infrastructure projects, the
West Kowloon Cultural District offers a
unique location for the presentation of
treasures from the Palace Museum. The
HKPM will display work from the Palace
Museum collection on a long-term basis.
The Memorandum of Understanding
of Cooperation for the HKPM project
was signed by the Board Chairman of
the WKCDA, Mrs Carrie Lam, and the
Director of the Palace Museum, Dr Shan
Jixiang, in Beijing on 23 December, collections that highlight imperial life
2016. and culture as well as educational and
Expected to be opened in 2022, the ancillary facilities. The capital cost of the
HKPM will further strengthen Hong HKPM will be fully funded by a donation
Kongs position as the cultural metropolis. of HK$3.5 billion from the Hong Kong
In addition, it will provide a valuable Jockey Club Charities Trust.
opportunity for collaboration with local The HKPM will be managed by a
institutions in research and education. wholly-owned subsidiary of the WKCDA
Through the establishment of these with its own governance structure, Board
museums, M+ and HKPM will provide and its own team of staff including
a broader scope to nurture the careers curatorial, conservation, registration,
of emerging museum professionals exhibition, management and learning
across curatorial, educational and teams of specialists.
other professional areas of museum The HKPM will occupy a prime
management in Hong Kong. location on Hong Kongs harbourfront
The new HKPM will be a purpose-built within easy reach by public
museum in the West Kowloon Cultural transportation, and will be adjacent to a
District. The 10,000 sq m site of the new proposed exhibition hub comprising an
museum will be located on the western exhibition centre, hotels and offices. The
harbourfront. The project will have a WKCDA has endorsed the appointment
total GFA of approximately 30,500 sq of Rocco Yim of Rocco Design Architects
m. It will provide permanent galleries Limited as the architect to carry out the
devoted to showing the Palace Museum design of the HKPM.

Building Journal 9