Recent participants in the Liget Budapest design competition, Graeme Massie Architects have taken home third place for their proposed Museum of Ethnography design. The museum, one of five museums planned for the Liget Budapest development, is located at the very corner of Budapest City Park and is meant to act as a welcoming landmark for the city. Graeme Massie fulfills this requirement in a unique fashion, creating a building that is instantly recognizable, but still manages to blend with its surroundings. Learn more, after the break.
The museum’s site is positioned at the end of the very long Andrássy Avenue promenade. Rather than treat the building as a stopping point for the boulevard, the architects made it an extension of the promenade. The forecourt of the museum grafts itself to the existing sidewalk, shielded from the sights and sounds of traffic by the low-lying “apron” wing of the building. As visitors walk along the elongated forecourt, they are treated to reflecting pools and a number of gardens. Both of these landscaping features serve more than an aesthetic purpose—the reflecting pools collect and filter greywater for the museum’s use, while the gardens display many of the natural materials traditionally used in the creation of the museum’s many artifacts.
The extension of the promenade continues to the building interior. The canyon-like lobby space is conceived as a terraced landscape connected by stairs and elevators, leading patrons upward into the museum. These terraces house the temporary collections, while the permanent exhibition is located in a single, long “cavern” hall whose ribbon window displays a panoramic view of Budapest.
The promenade ends with the stairs leading up to the museum’s observation tower. While much of the building’s mass matches the height of the surrounding buildings, this tower acts as an architectural counterpoint, one that distinguishes the museum from its counterparts. From this vantage point, visitors get a full 360 degree view of the city.
Two other proposals were honored alongside Graeme Massie for this portion of Liget Budapest: BFarchitecture’s design was awarded second place, while Vallet De Martinis Architectes won first. Firms OVO Grąbczewscy Architekci, Studio Graha Akar Karya, and Oeco-Architectes all received honorable mention.
Competition
Liget BudapestAward
Third PlaceProject Name
Museum of EthnographyArchitects
Location
Budapest, City Park, HungaryArchitects in Charge
Graeme Massie ArchitectsProject Year
2014Photographs
Graeme Massie ArchitectsCompetition
Liget BudapestAward
Third PlaceProject Name
Museum of EthnographyLocation
Budapest, City Park, HungaryProject Year
2014Photographs
Graeme Massie Architects
