Soundscapes under a leafy canopy
House of Music by Sou Fujimoto in Budapest
© Liget Budapest/György Palkó
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At the time when Budapest’s House of Music was inaugurated, the nights were frosty but below the enormous roof of Sou Fujimoto’s new building, it was golden October: on the underside of the huge canopy roof extending into Városliget Park, 30 000 metal polygons the colour of autumn foliage are mounted. The rooms that open up below this roof are of unusual transparency, considering the room programme the new building had to accommodate. The 9000 m² multifunctional cultural establishment is a music museum, concert house and teaching facility in one.
© Liget Budapest/György Palkó
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The shaping of the roof is somewhat reminiscent of a huge, snail-bitten mushroom, as seen by the 100 or so openings that perforate the voluminous canopy below which a multimedia library and rooms for music lessons are located. Two concert halls are to be found on the ground floor, and 2000 m² of exhibition space in the sublevel storey.
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The woodland and foliage metaphors that the House of Music embodies are Sou Fujimoto’s response to the building’s location in the heart of Városliget, Budapest’s city park. Created 200 years ago, the 1,2 km² park at the north-eastern edge of downtown Budapest is an important place for local recreation but has also always been a prominent cultural site.
© Liget Budapest/György Palkó
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Ten years ago the Hungarian government decided to breathe new life into what had become a somewhat dilapidated park by initiating the Liget Budapest megaproject. This involved the planning of five new museums, including a new national gallery by Sanaa. Public protests against the loss of green spaces ensued.
© Liget Budapest/György Palkó
© Liget Budapest/György Palkó
Lorem Ipsum: Zwischenüberschrift
In 2019, the city council of the newly-elected Green mayor Gergely Karácsony stopped all building projects that had not yet been commenced. Solely the Museum of Ethnography by the Napur architectural office of Budapest will definitely be completed in the coming months. Afterwards, peace is likely to return again to the city park. And – at least for a while – Sou Fujimoto’s leafy canopy will be the architectural highlight of the Liget project launched with so much ambition.
Read more in Detail 6.2022 and in our databank Detail Inspiration.
Architecture: Sou Fujimoto Architects, M-Teampannon Architects
Client: Szépművészeti Múzeum, Városliget Zrt.
Location: Olof Palme stny. 3, 1146 Budapest (HU)
Structural engineering: Kenese, Terraplan
Landscape architecture: Gardenworks
HVAC planning: Lanterv & Körös Consult
Electrical engineering: Hungaroproject
Acoustics: Nagata Acoustics, Arató & Józsa
Gallery
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