OMA to design New vision for urban transit in Hong Kong

Hong Kong/Rotterdam, January 18, 2011 — OMA has been commissioned to produce a new design strategy and identity for Hong Kong's transit authority, the MTR. The plan, Railway Vision 2020, will culminate in OMA designing and building two new stations as prototypes for the entire network throughout Hong Kong.

OMA and its research unit AMO will study the city's mass transit system and its infrastructure in depth, conducting site, analysis, branding and identity research, observation of the everyday usage patterns of the system by commuters, and sustainability research. OMA's design for the two stations will emerge from this research, and will include a rethinking of the elements of a station: its engagement with the street level, its connections, concourses and platforms, station furniture, circulation and way-finding, and MTR's visual identity.

OMA partner-in-charge David Gianotten commented: "We are honoured to contribute to the identity of one of Hong Kong's most important and efficient companies, as well as the overall identity of Hong Kong, through this project. OMA's history of research and its dedication to the development of the city will be crucial for our approach to the work. "Also in Hong Kong, OMA is working on the West Kowloon Cultural District project and the new campus for Chu Hai College.

OMA will collaborate with Stanford University, the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong. Railway Vision 2020 will be developed in OMA's Asia headquarters in Hong Kong. The first stations designed for railway Vision 2020 will open before 2014.