Archinect - News

Budapest's new Museum of Ethnography features a green roof that arcs down from the sky into the ground plane, connecting park to city

2022-08-31T14:36:00-04:00

Photos of the recently inaugurated award-winning new Museum of Ethnography in Budapest’s Városliget City Park by NAPUR Architect Ltd have been released.

The museum is a part of the larger Liget Budapest development and marks the first time in the 150-year history of the institution that its 250,000 object collection will be stored in one contiguous facility.

All images courtesy of NAPUR Architect Ltd.

The local studio beat out international heavyweight such as Zaha Hadid to win the commission for the project, which the jury commended as being “distinguished by a dynamic yet simple design harmonized with the natural environment of the park while communicating with the urban texture of its surroundings.”

All images courtesy of NAPUR Architect Ltd.

As NAPUR describes: “The gently curving lines enable the building to function as a gateway and a passage linking the city and the park. Sixty percent of the structure is under ground level, and thanks to the landscaped roof and the transpa...

Sou Fujimoto's House of Music finally opens in Budapest

2022-01-24T15:23:00-05:00

A new landmark on the European cultural scene is now on view in Hungary. Sou Fujimoto’s House of Music has now officially opened in the country’s capital city after almost six years of construction.

The 97,000-square-foot performance venue is the centerpiece of the Liget Budapest Project, a €1 billion ($1.13 billion) development billed to be one of the biggest in recent European history that includes the music hall, new national art gallery, cultural building, and landscaped areas situated a the center of one of the continent’s historic capitals of music.

Image copyright Palkó György

Fujimoto’s design distributes the interactive program of education, exhibition, and performance spaces across three levels with a variety of plant life springing up from its core to create a naturalistic environment that significantly enhances the experience of the visitor. The building’s paneled glass facade presents a seamless transition between exterior park and interior mu...

New Budapest mayor blocks construction of SANAA-designed New National Gallery

2019-12-03T18:08:00-05:00

Plans for Hungary’s landmark New National Gallery—conceived as the centrepiece of the rising Liget cultural quarter in Budapest’s City Park—hang in the balance after the city’s new centre-left mayor, Gergely Karácsony, moved to block its construction.

After the international design competition for Budapest's New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum resulted in proposals by Snøhetta and SANAA tied for the first prize in April 2015, the latter team, headed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, ultimately won the commission later that year, beating out a star-studded shortlist that also included entries by Jean Nouvel, David Chipperfield, Mecanoo, Renzo Piano, and Nieto Sobejano.

"Construction on the €250m New National Gallery, designed by Japanese architectural firm Sanaa, was due to begin in early 2020 after two years spent refining the designs," reports The Art Newspaper.

Budapest National Gallery/Ludwig Museum competition: Snøhetta and SANAA tied for 1st prize

2015-04-14T21:29:00-04:00

After a not-so-ideal turnout in its first run in 2014, The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and the Városliget Zrt's Liget Budapest Design Competition 2.0 is a stark contrast! A few months after the architects for three of the development's buildings were announced, Snøhetta and SANAA tied for first prize for Budapest's [...] National Gallery and Ludwig Museum. However, it seems that the ultimate winning proposal is yet to be chosen between the two, after the jury meets with both teams.

Previously:

New competition launched for National Gallery and Ludwig Museum in Budapest

2014-11-05T13:36:00-05:00

The international jury choosing an architect to design a new National Gallery, which will also provide a new home for the Ludwig Museu in the Hungarian capital, has invited seven leading practices to take part in a new competition after a first competition did not produce a winning design. The seven architects invited to compete for the high-profile commission are: Jean Nouvel, David Chipperfield, Mecanoo, Nieto Sobejano, Renzo Piano, Sanaa and Snøhetta.