Városliget - or City Park - is a recently developing green lung in Budapest. Commissioned by the Hungarian Government, a large-scale-museum project was put out to tender internationally in 2014. The ambitious plan was called Liget Budapest and consisted of four competitions with five new museums in the City Park environment, including the Architecture and Photography Museum to be arranged in two plots.

 

In order to share exchanging and server spaces, arrange the programs to support each other and minimizing energy loss and impact over the landscape, the plan is reorganized in only one plot area. The one building includes all the program of two museums and mixed uses spaces. The second plot is liberated and planted by 140 evergreen trees, creating a green symmetrical volume with the building that completes the gate for the City Park demanded by the organization and highlights the principle of sustainability of the idea.

 

The project is a four-layered building, each of them a specific programmatic pocket. The Architecture Museum is a ribbed concrete volume, cropped to create a suitable front of the city.  The Photography Museum consists in a stainless steel shining block which protects the inner exhibition of the daylight. Finally, the Mixed Uses block is a glazed transparent pile that incorporates offices, event halls, museum shops, cafes, and administration spaces, and focuses the sight towards the park.

 

Between Photography and Mixed Uses block is placed the main hall, an inner street covered by transparent ETFE façade and roof.  This singular place means the main entrance, a walk through the building, and the access of every space and exhibition, condensing all the activity. A communication band, filled with escalators, organizes the connection between blocks and inner routes by means of flying platforms across the hall, making of the walk inside a complete architectural experience.