Sou Fujimoto’s House of Hungarian Music to Begin Construction in Budapest

Sou Fujimoto’s House of Hungarian Music is set to begin construction in an idyllic natural setting beside Városliget Lake in Budapest’s largest park. Having won a competition for the scheme’s design in 2014, the Japanese architect has designed a “modern and extravagant home for music” drawing inspiration from both the natural and musical worlds.

The scheme forms part of the Liget Budapest project, one of Europe’s largest museum developments, which also includes the striated Museum of Ethnography by French firm Vallet de Martinis DIID Architectes and the cuboidal PhotoMuseum Budapest and Museum of Hungarian Architecture by Hungarian firm Középülettervező Zrt.

The Fujimoto scheme features a distinctive floating roof inspired by sound waves, under which sits a building “seamlessly blending into nature as a continuation of the park itself.” The roof is perforated with lightwells to create a natural, illuminated interior further lit by a wrapped glazed façade. The scheme’s light, open, airy interior and program are inspired by the motto of Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, – “Let music belong to everyone!”

The anonymous competition for the House of Hungarian Music attracted designs from numerous notable firms, such as Kengo Kuma’s nature-guided proposal, AVA’s sculptural house, Ziya Imren’s “symphonic architectural poem,” and MenoMenoPiu’s circular design.

The winning Fujimoto scheme is about to begin construction, with an opening anticipated by the end of 2020. The £190 million five-building museum project is being led by The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and the Városliget Zrt.