Budapest museum competition chooses two winning designs
A large-scale project that will see the construction of the New National Gallery-Ludwig Museum in Budapest has announced the results of its design competition -- with two leading firms tying for first place.
Snøhetta and SANAA both emerged winners in the international architecture design competition, and a final design is to be chosen during meetings with the architects.
The design by Norwegian firm Snøhetta (9/11 Memorial Museum Atrium) features a pair of large, sloping public rooftop terraces, while Japanese studio SANAA (Louvre Lens) has proposed a building with a series of curved, overlapping roofs and several public outdoor spots.
Candidates were charged with providing flexible spaces with inviting community areas, upholding "the highest level of contemporary architecture" and contributing to the architectural heritage of Budapest, respecting the historical nature of the park, and proposing cost-effective solutions for the institutions operating there.
The museum will be part of a new cultural center to be built in Budapest's 200-year-old Városliget (City Park). The Liget Budapest project -- claimed to be Europe's largest-scale museum development of the moment -- revolves around the renewal of Városliget, one of the world's first public parks, and hopes to make it a major tourist attraction.
Among the plans are an increase in the park's green area and the construction of five new museum buildings: the Hungarian House of Music, the Hungarian Museum of Architecture, the FotoMuzeum and the Ethnographic Museum as well as the National Gallery-Ludwig Museum.
Construction is expected to start in 2016 and the new museums will be open to visitors in March 2018.
