shortlist for budapest’s museum of ethnography includes zaha hadid, BIG, and OMA

a strong 15-name shortlist has been announced in a competition to determine who will design part of a major new museum complex in hungary. the liget budapest project involves the transformation of budapest’s city park into a major cultural destination. the site will include a host of new institutions, including the house of hungarian music — conceived by sou fujimoto — and the SANAA-designed new national gallery.

the museum of ethnography was originally going to be completed by vallet de martinis architectes, however — after the building’s location was significantly altered — the french studio’s plans were shelved. a new tender was then launched for the project with a number of high profile firms invited to submit proposals. in alphabetical order, the finalists reaching the second stage of the competition are as follows:

architecture-studio
bánáti + hartvig építész iroda
bernard tschumi architects
bjarke ingels group (BIG)
budapest university of technology and economics + balázs mihály
coop himmelb(l)au
dominique perrault architecture
emre arolat architecture
gmp architekten
középülettervező
MVRDV
napur architect
OMA — office for metropolitan architecture
sauerbruch hutton
zaha hadid architects

the SANAA-designed new national gallery
see more of the project on designboom here | all images courtesy of liget budapest

as well as more than 200,000 ethnographic artifacts, the museum also houses a large archive containing more than 400,000 historical photographs, manuscripts, sound files and a film library. ‘the museum is one of the earliest ethnographic institutions of europe operating since 1872 and it is a social museum proud of its collection of outstanding value,’ state the organizers. ‘it is also open to the future and to renewal; its building will be designed in this spirit. the museum of ethnography is a place where all members of society return with pleasure – because it mirrors themselves and their roots.’

entries from each firm must now be submitted before april 6th, with a winning scheme announced in may 2016. a tentative completion date for the project has been scheduled for 2019.

the house of hungarian music — conceived by sou fujimoto
see more of the project on designboom here