With three teams of architects announced for West Kowloon, and a three-month consultation with them beginning in September, what sort of cultural district do we want?
More immediately, what kind of dialogue do we desire? In that sense, it is important to differentiate between exchanging information, dialogue, shared thinking, developing ideas together and finding a collective voice.
Wish lists aside, we need to talk about the central issues: first, education - children and young people being a centrepiece of the cultural district; second, accessibility, engagement and a sense of shared ownership within the community; and, third, iconography deriving from within - through the integrity and quality of design, and of the project being conceived 'from the inside out'.
External amenities, internal aesthetics, acoustics, sound isolation, climate control and a general feeling of well-being are crucial to the success of a cultural complex. Public spaces in integrated arts complexes need to be places that audiences, artists and visitors enjoy being in.
The importance of nurturing the next generation of participants and audiences, as well as community cultural development, is paramount: in short, we are talking about building a cultural commonwealth.
And, in this regard, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority's intentions, in terms of providing space for education, will be formative.