Taking the form of two artificial hillsides topped by huge rooftop garden space, the recently completed Museum of Ethnography serves as an extension to an adjacent park in Budapest, Hungary. The museum also features a glazed facade shaded by an intricate screen that contains almost half a million laser-cut metal pieces.
The Museum of Ethnography was designed by local firm Napur Architect and was a serious engineering undertaking, with 60 percent of the building situated underground so as to not overly dominate the existing park site. Its 7,300 sq m (roughly 80,000 sq ft) rooftop garden was created using over three thousand cubic meters (roughly 106,000 cubic ft) of topsoil and hosts 1,500 perennials, seven shrubs, almost 100 evergreens and approximately 700 ornamental grasses.
While most of the building is underground, what is above ground is impressive and defined by the aluminum shading mesh, which helps prevent the interior from overheating due to solar heat gain.
"The building's crowning glory is its glass facade, the entire length of which is covered with a metal grid structure, into which almost half a million pixels have been inserted, depicting selected ethnographic motifs from the museum's Hungarian and international collections," explained the Museum of Ethnography's press release. "The structure envelops and curtains the building like a tapestry woven from Hungarian and world culture."
Inside, the museum measures 7,000 sq m (around 75,000 sq ft), spread over five floors, and it hosts over 200,000 artefacts, including photographs, manuscripts, folk music recordings, and films. Its exhibition spaces have been designed for flexibility and to allow for both temporary and permanent displays.
Almost 4,000 ceramic objects from all over the world are also on display, while elsewhere visitors will find a bookshop, a restaurant, a library, a documentation center, co-working facilities, a visitors' center, an events center and an interactive museum for children.
The Museum of Ethnography is part of a massive redevelopment effort in Budapest that features works from Zaha Hadid Architects and Sou Fujimoto Architects, the latter of which is situated just a stone's throw away from the museum.
Sources: Museum of Ethnography, Napur Architect