House of Music Hungary
Sou Fujimoto's perforated-canopy music centre in City Park, with sound exhibitions and a concert hall.
The House of Music Hungary opened in January 2022 in the City Park as part of the Liget Budapest programme. The Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto won the international competition with a low, transparent pavilion whose undulating roof is pierced by around a hundred openings that let existing trees grow through. Glass walls run the full height of the ground floor, so the surrounding park remains visible from inside, and gold-coloured leaf shapes line the underside of the canopy.
Three levels hold the building's functions: a concert hall and an open-air stage, a permanent exhibition on European and Hungarian music history using headphone-guided audio, and a basement with temporary galleries and a Sound Dome projection space. There is also a creative sound laboratory for workshops and a specialist music library. The programme mixes classical, jazz, folk and popular music with talks and family activities. The building received a Piranesi Award and other architecture prizes after completion.
Highlights
- Perforated canopy roof by Sou Fujimoto, pierced for existing trees
- Permanent sound exhibition with headphone-guided audio
- Sound Dome, a 360-degree projection and listening space
- Concert hall and open-air stage in the City Park
