As Andrew Bromberg of Aedas positions Station as a prominent urban element. In the building, which acts as a boundary crossing to mainland China at the same time, a light-flooded subterranean world unfolds. On its roof flourishes the urban life.

The era of high-speed trains began in China in the 1990s. Earlier than originally planned, the first "four vertical and four horizontal" expansion of the network to open up the country was achieved at the end of 2017 with a total length of 25,000 kilometers. Under the keyword "eight verticals and eight horizontal", the concentration and expansion of the system is currently in progress. It will cover 45,000 miles by 2040.

Given these dimensions, the construction of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link Hong Kong Section with just 142 kilometers may initially appear marginal. The new track is not only an important artery that opens up the Pearl River Delta, but the largest and most booming metropolitan area in the world. First and foremost, it connects mainland China with Hong Kong, which being returned to China in 1997 has the status of a Special Administrative Region. Trains from Hong Kong are only 14 minutes away from Futian Station, located in the city center of Shenzhen. One can reach many of China's major cities directly from Hong Kong. For example, it takes eight hours on high-speed rail to travel to Beijing.

As a meaningful and indispensable connection between Hong Kong and mainland China, the new rail link, like the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge which opened in late October last year, in critics’ eyes is as an example of the Chinese government trying to bring Hong Kong and mainland more closely together. This impression is solidified by the fact that the passport and customs controls for arrival and departure to or from China do not take place at the border (because the train does not stop) or in Shenzhen Futian. They take place inside at the terminus station in Hong Kong which opened on 23 September 2018.

A yellow line marks the border between Hong Kong and mainland China on the Basement Level 3, the departure level. For those who wish to cross the yellow line, they need a visa to enter China. Short-term visa for Shenzhen, as issued at other boundary crossings, is not available here. Like what happened to the author, anyone who is not aware of this situation will be rejected by the Chinese customs officers, escorted back to the yellow line and handed over to the Hong Kong authorities. Now accompanied by employees of the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, the route leads from the authorities’ office through endless corridors and adjoining rooms inside the station catacombs until it is channeled through a covert door into the Arrival Hall, returning to Hong Kong.

Functionally, Hong Kong West Kowloon Station serves as a huge dispatch machine, with zones for luggage and passport controls, customs, and boarding areas more akin to an airport than to a traditional train station - except that one does not take off into the air but into a tunnel that lies 25 meters below ground level. Basement Level 1 serves as a distribution level; Basement Level 2 is for Arrival procedures and Basement Level 3 serves as the Departure Hall. From the waiting area you finally get to the trains, which depart on the Basement Level 4. Nine tracks are reserved for long-haul trains, and six rail tracks handle traffic to Shenzhen and Guangzhou, whereas the latter accounts for approximately 70 percent of passenger traffic.

The new station was constructed on reclaimed land in the West Kowloon Peninsula. Landfills became necessary in 1998 as the entirely new Chek Lap Kok airport replaced the old Kai Tak Airport with its notorious runway protruding out into Victoria Harbour. Among other things, space has been created for the West Kowloon Station, Airport Express and airport motorway, which continues via the Western Harbour Tunnel to Hong Kong Island. MTR Corporation, the operator of the Hong Kong Airport Express and subway lines, has been significantly involved in the infrastructure projects as well as in the commercial development. Around above Kowloon Station and the Elements Shopping Mall, a high-rise cluster was formed between 2000 and 2010, dominated by Hong Kong's tallest high-rise building the International Commerce Center (Kohn Pedersen Fox), at a height of 484 meters. Not only has Kowloon gained 30 percent in surface area in recent decades, it has also completely changed its skyline; high-rise buildings were previously prohibited due to the nearby airport. The silhouette continues to change, of which the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) based on a 2010 Foster + Partners master plan derives. Like pearls on a string large new buildings of cultural organisations line the shore, including the M+ Museum by Herzog & de Meuron, of which the structural works have been completed.

The new Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, built and operated by MTR, is located in the second row and connects to the north of the WKCD, which is embedded in a park and accessed by a promenade. The West side has a direct access to Elements Mall and Kowloon Station. Another footbridge connects the new train station with MTR Austin station in the east. North of the station, a further high-rise cluster over the tracks is under construction. In 2009 when the MTR hosted the competition, that top side development was still part of the construction plan, but has since been deprived and is now being realized by other planners. Thus not by Andrew Bromberg, Global Design Principal of the architecture group Aedas. The American who was born in 1968 came to Hong Kong in 2002 and oversees those projects at Aedas that are architecturally ambitious and should be more than Far East-compatible investor architecture. The Hong Kong West Kowloon Station is a good example where he was able to prevail against prominent competitors such as Foster + Partners. The arrangement of the

tracks and platforms underground was defined at the time of the competition, the connections to the surrounding stations and buildings were also included in the specifications.

Yet the appearance of the train station, the spacious departure hall flooded with natural daylight and the accessibility of the roof, all these are ideas Bromberg brought in and was able to implement in spectacular ways. Bringing as much light as possible into the building was the goal of the design, even though the trains themselves remain invisible on the deepest building level. A gigantic atrium is cut into the subterranean volume; but as deep as the atrium reaches down from ground level, as high it also reaches up: the apex of the roof is located 45 meters above the Departure Hall at the very bottom of the atrium. V-shaped in cross-section, 175- meter-long structural trusses extend in shallow arcs along the building and are connected to each other by glass surfaces. The effect is breathtaking - even on the lower levels you can diagonally see through the glazing onto the high-rise buildings all around or even up to the Hong Kong Peak. Conversely, one can see from the outside through the glass walls into the depth, entirely irrespective of the possibility to circulate the hall inside on different levels and to perceive the space from new perspectives.

Nine bundles of irregularly shaped tree-like and to some extent bizarrely fused round columns carrying the load of the roof and transfer the forces to a few points. Bromberg explains the columns were meant to be slightly thinner but not every detail is controllable in such a large project with complex requirements. And therefore it is more important to emphasize what has been achieved here: that you can really climb up the roof of the station. External ramps and stairs on top of the V-trusses lead to the highest point of the building. Bushes, shrubs and other greenery form a magnificent park. And from its top Hong Kong Island with its impressive waterfront comes to the fore, beyond WKCD and Victoria Harbour. This rooftop park is connected to the ground-level Green Plaza, which spans between the main hall roof and its side wing adjacent to the Elements Mall.

The station reaches its culminating end in the main glass front, which at the same time creates a surging billow against WKCD. And yet the forms are fluid, derived from the movement of the trains. The view from the east is different: here the geometry of the curved V-trusses results in a stepping of arches, which is reminiscent of the image of traditional station halls. Maybe that association is exactly what Bromberg has managed to do: to make the arrival - or departure – in Hong Kong an experience once again.

Halls and engineering designs shaped stations since the 19th century. And while trains by now run below ground, Hong Kong West Kowloon Station is a convincing evidence that stations can once again become landmarks of a city and gain visibility. Railway stations are public places, and Bromberg has demonstrated this theme convincingly, not least with the accessibility of the roof.

Facts

Architect: Andrew Bromberg at Aedas

Project: Hong Kong West Kowloon Station