Type: Cultural
Size: 70,000 SF
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Collaborators: N/A
Status: Un-Built

Our goal for the Hungarian House of Music (HHM) was to embrace the site and program to create a building with a meaningful experience to its context.

The Site:

To create harmony between nature and the new HHM at City Park our proposal respects the most valuable trees by weaving through them and framing them in a series of courtyards. These inimitable arrangements of courtyards create an extended park experience as the Visitors enter and move to, and through the main lobby toward the Temporary Exhibits.

Promenade:

In order to engage and extend the planned promenade the Café and Shop are placed directly adjacent to it. Visitors are drawn to enter through the entry garden which doubles as the outdoor performance area, which can extend to the crowds of the promenade.

Program:

The existing built area of the old Hungexpo building is used to place the majority of the program creating a 5-story building that engages with the rest of the park, providing views to the north and creating an prominent second entrance on the north east side of the site. Once in the building the user is immediately engaged by an interior courtyard that creates a procession to a gentle ramp upwards towards the public spaces of the museum. On the second level we connect the museum learning with the temporary exhibit, this allows for presentations in the lecture room by artist that are exhibiting in the temporary exhibit space, allowing the HHM to have exciting functions related to the museum learning. The administration offices are set on the fourth level creating spaces that are fill with natural light and great views of the park.

Outdoor Areas:

Our HHM proposal offers an additional outdoor stage performance area in connection to the landscape area north of the proposed site, that should be for more family related events, such as a Jazz Night. Which allows for more casual gatherings that are more related to the lake family type activities. This will help in promoting family type functions to introduce the HHM to a wider range audience.

Sustainable aspects:

The courtyards also provide additional sustainable aspects by allowing plenty of natural Light while reducing heat loss through the placement of thermal mass walls. The roofs serve as a water collection system that recycles the and thus minimizing the use of artificial lighting at the new HHM.