Designed by NAPUR Architect, the recently opened New Museum of Ethnography in Budapest is a purpose-built museum that facilitates the large-scale, modern, user-friendly operation of the institution along with the visually enticing and diverse display of mankind’s material and spiritual heritage, both Hungarian and International.
With a collection comprising 250 thousand items from the Carpathian Basin and from every part of the world, the collection never operated in a building designed specifically for its need – until now.
The result of an international competition, NAPUR Architect edged out names such as Zaha Hadid and BIG with a design that is simple yet in harmony with the natural environment of the neighbouring part and in communication with the urban texture of its surroundings with gently curving lines forming a gateway and passage linking city to park.
Alongside side this feature element is a spectacular glass curtainwall surrounding the landscape roof garden. Recalling two intertwined hillsides, the walls includes nearly half a million pixels inserted into a laser-cut aluminum grid by a special robot. In total more than 2,000 of which are attached to the building. The small cubes were made up of 20 Hungarian and 20 international contemporary reinterpretations of ethnographic motifs.
Inside, the state-of-the art museum includes flexibility spaces that facilitate the historical heritage of the collection as well as various aspects of contemporary society. In addition to passing down historical heritage, the realisation of more recent professional and research themes and perspectives continues to be among the priority objectives of the museum, as confirmed by its mission.
