Michael Webb reviews West Kowloon Station for the US magazine Garage:
“West Kowloon’s concourse has the drama of a Gothic cathedral, a civic space to dazzle visitors and delight locals, who badly need shaded gathering places as a retreat from the pervasive humidity and tropical downpours. Filtered light bathes the four million square feet of public space. The void makes it easy to navigate one’s way through the waiting areas, past shops, restaurants, and services to the entry plaza. Tunnels and footbridges link the concourse to the subway and bus station. Steps lead over the roof to a landscaped garden that doubles as a belvedere and a public park. It’s flanked by towers and a new arts district that includes a concert hall and the M+ Museum of Herzog & de Meuron.
No artwork could match the complex beauty of the station’s roof vault, with its folded planes and sensuous curves, supported on organic columns that branch and shift to support the load. In a city state where money rules and every square foot of urban development is contested, there’s a generosity of scale that recalls an earlier era. It’s a gift to the public realm that gains value from its rarity; a place to lift the spirits and breathe free.”