Snøhetta and SANAA tie for New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum for Budapest

After a not-so-ideal turnout in its first run in 2014, The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and the Városliget Zrt's Liget Budapest Design Competition 2.0 is a stark contrast! A few months after the architects for three of the development's buildings were announced, Snøhetta and SANAA tied for first prize for Budapest's soon-to-be-renovated National Gallery and Ludwig Museum. However, it seems that the ultimate winning proposal is yet to be chosen between the two, after the jury meets with both teams.

Snøhetta and SANAA were selected out of a star-studded list announced last fall. The jury also awarded two teams for second prize: Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos and Balázs Mihály Architect Studio + Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Architecture. A total cash prize of 380,000 Euros was awarded to all the first-prize and second-prize teams.

More details below.

Claimed to be Europe's current largest museum project, the Liget Budapest Project will realize five new museum buildings at a cost of 75 billion HUF (approx. $268.8m). The project is a large effort to revive Budapest's 200-year-old City Park and have it become a Hungarian landmark and global cultural destination. Construction of the new museums are set to begin in 2016 and open in March 2018.

Check out the first-prize proposals.

SANAA

Snøhetta

"The 11-member jury of Hungarian and international experts not only evaluated the architectural quality and ideas to be applied in regard to the future museum, but also assessed the technological and functional solutions (e.g. anticipated visitor experience and museum technological solutions), the sustainability of the designed building (energy efficiency, ecology,) its dialogue with the environment (including aspects relating to the green area, its embeddedness in the urban landscape, its connection with the City Park, access to the building), and the expected expenditure (costs of implementation and operational costs).

Since the connection between the park and the built environment is a top priority in the Liget Budapest Project, aimed at the renewal of the City Park, the designs propose a substantial increase in the City Park’s green areas. This spring, Városliget Zrt. will announce a landscape design competition for the complete renewal of the park."

Jury:

• László Baán, ministerial commissioner for the Liget Budapest Project and director-general of the Museum of Fine Arts
• Roueida Ayache, architect; Paula Cadima, deputy head of department at AA London School of Architecture, architect
• Edwin Heathcote, architectural critic for the Financial Times, architect
• Eva Jiricna, architect
• Juhani Katainen, former dean of the faculty of architecture of Tampere University of Technology
• Imre Bálint, the president of the Budapest Chamber of Architecture, architect
• György Fekete, president of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, interior architect
• Sándor Finta, chief architect of Budapest; Zsolt Füleky, deputy-state secretary for architecture, architect
• László György Sáros, president of the Association of Hungarian Architects, architect

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