Building M+ / The Winning Design

After yesterday’s post about the M+ competition, it’s time to reveal the winning design.

If you don’t know this already,Herzog & de Meuron and TFP Farrells were chosen unanimously. The proposed building, which will feature a large, horizontal platform and a thin slab tower, was praised for its simplicity and clean design.

Perhaps the design’s most unique and defining element will be the way in which it ‘literally anchors itself to the ground’. In order to create a ‘radical space’ for installations and performances, Herzog & de Meuron has designed the museum to connect directly to the Airport Express via an underground tunnel in an effort to challenge artists and curators with an unprecedented exhibition space. More images can be found here.

Many of the other proposals focused on burying or ignoring the train tunnel underneath, but Herzog & de Meuron created an excavated ‘found space’ that traces the tunnel’s stepped profile, carving out an extraordinary location for large-scale installations and events.

The building, which is estimated to cost 5.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, will be situated atop a tunnel for Hong Kong’s Airport Express train. The horizontal portion of the building will house the gallery space. The vertical tower will house the offices for the museum and also function as a screen with an LED lighting system that will display works of art at night.