16
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
17
RISING FROM THE WATER The land on which the station was built was reclaimed in the 1990s as part of the Hong Kong Airport Core Programme related to the new facilities at Chek Lap Lak. Reclamation was needed along the west coast of Kowloon Peninsula to provide land for an expressway, as well as for infrastructure. The Airport Railway also runs through the reclaimed area, which increased the surface of the Kowloon Peninsula by 30 percent. The Airport Core Programme works have in fact had a significant impact on the urban development of Hong Kong since the early 1990s, adding land and multimodal transport facilities to an area where population (estimated at 7.19 million persons in July 20179) continues to increase and where urbanization is remarkably dense. It is this density that has imposed a careful integration of rail and other transport lines into the city, with landfill in this instance creating opportunities for further development.
36
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Ed quiamusda am quia verovid estis aciminimusam qui id mil invent quidia volorro quia aut eatur ressum.
FROM THE PAST TO THE PRESENT
© 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
37
Ed quiamusda am quia verovid estis aciminimusam qui id mil invent quidia volorro quia aut eatur ressum.
40
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
41
A GESTURE TOWARD THE HARBOR The design includes a vast atrium hall space that offers views through the south facade of the station toward the Central district of Hong Kong and beyond to Victoria Peak, giving travelers an immediate impression that they have arrived. This view is facilitated by the exterior ground surface that slopes down toward the hall and a roof that “gestures toward the harbor.”
66
© 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Ed quiamusda am quia verovid estis aciminimusam qui id mil invent quidia volorro quia aut eatur ressum.
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Ed quiamusda am quia verovid estis aciminimusam qui id mil invent quidia volorro quia aut eatur ressum.
70
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
71
Ed quiamusda am quia verovid estis aciminimusam qui id mil invent quidia volorro quia aut eatur ressum.
76
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
IN AND AROUND WEST KOWLOON STATION
© 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
77
Ed quiamusda am quia verovid estis aciminimusam qui id mil invent quidia volorro quia aut eatur ressum.
96
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
FIRST CHINA, THEN THE WORLD The extent and significance of the Chinese development of high-speed rail systems in the past ten years can hardly be overstated. Largely under the control of the stateowned China Railway Corporation, high-speed rail development undertaken in China since 2008 has global implications, far outstripping any similar initiative ever undertaken in the world. China Railway Corporation is the national railway operator of China, and is 100 percent owned by the state. It “operates both passenger and freight services and is responsible for managing the rail network. It is financed solely by the Ministry of Finance and reports directly to the State Council.”21 Although China still has far fewer overall kilometers of rail lines than the United States (127,000 as opposed to 250,000 kilometers), the country’s burgeoning high-speed rail system already bears no comparison with that of the United States, which has no high-speed lines in the contemporary sense of the term. The French TGV system, inaugurated in 1981, today has 2,800 kilometers of track and 500 high-speed trains, whereas in ten years China has created ten times more track and has 1,500 operational high speed trains.22 According to very recent estimates, the Chinese high-speed rail system will register 464.1 billion passenger-kilometers in 2018, while the second largest high-speed network in the world (Japan) will count “only” 98.6 billion passenger-kilometers.23 Although revenues from rail traffic are increasing rapidly, so too has the debt of China Railway Corporation, which has been the object of international attention and was 4.99 trillion yuan ($725.54 billion) in 2017, for a debt-asset ratio of 65.21%.24 By way of comparison, the external debt of Greece was $506 billion as of March 2016.
AEDAS AND ANDREW BROMBERG
© 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
97
Ed quiamusda am quia verovid estis aciminimusam qui id mil invent quidia volorro quia aut eatur ressum.
118
Š 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
I AM IN HONG KONG Bromberg is cautious about commenting on the full political and societal implications of the West Kowloon Station, although clearly there have been many different opinions expressed about future relations between the former British colony and the mainland. He said, “There is also the new bridge connecting us to the mainland, so with the station there is a new era in communication coming. The Hong Kong economy has become largely dependent on tourism from Mainland China. There is a possibility to increase the capacity of certain elements of the station, but at present it does stand at slightly over forty million persons per year.”39 While railway stations are often designed by teams integrated directly with the transport companies concerned, including along the high-speed lines springing up in China, West Kowloon Station is something of an exception, a real symbol for the future of Hong Kong but also in a larger sense for the modern development of China. Bromberg explains that although he has been involved in other projects having to do with transport, this is indeed a first for him.
AEDAS AND ANDREW BROMBERG
© 2018 Rizzoli International Publications. All Rights Reserved.
119