Freespace, WKCD
Freespace and the Art Park is Hong Kong’s new centre for contemporary performing arts located in the heart of the West Kowloon Cultural District. The project commenced in 2014 and was officially opened in June 2019, after a total spend of approximately HK$970million (USD$120million).
The newly completed Freespace consists of a 450-seat (or 900 capacity in flat floor mode) black box theatre dubbed The Box, the Livehouse café/bar and performance space, The Room multi-purpose function venue and The Studio, a rehearsal and small function space.
Freespace is located within Art Park, an eleven-hectare park equipped with infrastructure to support both indoor and outdoor performances, live concerts, workshops, exhibitions and festivals. Each of the spaces has its own acoustic characteristics, from The Box, designed to accommodate a broad array of programming, to the Livehouse, designed for live music in a cabaret-like setting.
Freespace was a public project developed by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, a statutory body established by the Hong Kong SAR Government. The architects for this project are Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man Architects (DLN), West 8 (landscape), ACLA (master planning), and the theatre consultant is TheatrePlan.
CLIENT
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
LOCATION
West Kowloon, Hong Kong
COMPLETED
2019
Sitting adjacent to the Victoria Harbour in West Kowloon, The Art Park’s performance capabilities are designed to support large scale marquee amplified music events. Recognising the potential for impacting local residents and businesses, West Kowloon commissioned MDA to conduct noise mapping analysis in order to predict the future façade noise levels in the vicinity, including the future Palace Museum and hotel buildings. The assessment was conducted by using a commercial acoustic software – SoundPLAN and based on surveys and sound level measurements conducted by MDA at similar outdoor music events.