image © SANAA, courtesy of Liget Budapest

An international renowned Japanese firm SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) architects had competed with other internationally design firm Snøhetta for The New National Gallery of Hungary in April 2015 and SANAA has saw off Snøhetta in this competition and it has been announced that SANAA's proposal will be built because The new, state-of-the-art museum will satisfy 21st-century requirements all around and it is planned that its doors will open in summer 2019. 

image © SANAA, courtesy of Liget Budapest

According to press release, the jury of Hungarian and international experts ranked twoof the nine submitted projects that fulfilled the competition requirements in first place. The evaluation criteria included not only the architectural quality and solutions of the planned museum but also its technological and functional concepts, its sustainability, its links with the environment and the estimated costs. 

image © SANAA, courtesy of Liget Budapest

According to the jury’s decision the competitive projects of the Japanese SANAA and the Norwegian Snøhetta both represent architecturally outstanding value and are of a world class standard both in their approach to the museum collection and to visitor needs. In the months that followed the announcement of the result – in accordance with regulations and public procurement legislation – several rounds of negotiations were conducted between the architecture studios and Városliget Zrt., during which the announcer considered the contractual conditions, the quality of co-operation with the Hungarian party, the technical content, scheduling and costs relating to the respective designs, as well as the economy of the planned buildings. Based on the negotiations and the submitted proposals SANAA won the commission.

image © snøhetta, courtesy of Liget Budapest

With the above decision the City Park will have two buildings constructed according to designs by world famous Japanese architects: another participant in the Liget Budapest project besides SANAA is Sou Fujimoto, who won the competition announced last year for the House of Hungarian Music, to be built in the place of the former Hungexpo Offices.

image © snøhetta, courtesy of Liget Budapest

The City Park, which will be rejuvenated in all its elements by the end of this decade, will be home not only to newly constructed institutions but the old buildings will also be renovated and the green areas of the park rehabilitated and significantly increased. The dialogue between the park and the built environment is a priority in the implementation of the Liget Budapest Project, aimed at the renewal of the City Park. The built-up area of the City Park will remain under 7 percent, as prescribed by law, while tens of thousands of square metres will be added to the park’s green surface, thus extending it from the current 60 percent to 65 percent. The landscape architectural competition will be announced by Városliget Zrt. for the overall revamping of the park in December.

image © snøhetta, courtesy of Liget Budapest

> via ligetbudapest.org