Heralded as the 'mall of the century', the Elements shopping centre above Kowloon Station will stretch over two floors covering more than 1million sqft.
It will boast restaurants, international brands and services and Hong Kong's first 'shopping in the park' concept, with an integrated roof garden almost the same size as Kowloon Park, above the retail floors. The design team working on the project is from Benoy - a firm that has built an impressive track record in helping transform run-down districts with the structure needed for an attractive retail and lifestyle environment. Benoy director Simon Blore was asked how the transformation will take place:
Benoy has helped transform landmarks such as Birmingham's Bullring. Have the designers
seen similar challenges with the Elements project in West Kowloon, and what lessons do you think rejuvenation projects in Britain or elsewhere hold for Hong Kong?
Elements was really about the creation of a destination for a site that was new, and not yet known in Hong Kong. In that sense there are parallels with our regeneration work in Britain where we create new uses for old sites, and create new destinations from disused land. Certain principles apply to these urban regeneration projects, and the masterplan for Kowloon Station embodied many of these key generators which, when combined, lead to the creation of a new urban destination:
1 the provision of homes