Building is sound, can you see the sound?

The very first sense we use while dealing with architecture and other fine arts, is vision.  Talking about a building, it’s walls, windows, doors, at once we give them material shape in our minds, we visualize.  The main aim of this project was to challenge this image, find an unobvious solution with a building which is not to be understood simply by the use of our eyes but rather ears.

Once we could guess the instrument by it’s sound, but contemporary music is more often created  using the synthesizers that generate and modify sounds electronically and can imitate a variety of other musical instruments.  We would like to give the House of Hungarian Music it’s specific sound, so it becomes a musical instrument, a building which you can hear but not easily see.

Blending into the landscape so much, that remains barely visible, hiding between the trees is given out by the wind whistling in the poles  and light reflections straying between the trees.

Surrondings, urbanism, axis, landscape and landscape architecture

The City Park of Budapest is a strongly defining place, with impressive greenery, architectural and historical monuments, and rich additional activities programme.  However, the nature remains superior to the other elements here, it dominates, organizes the space, describes the main purpose. In this case the park is the context to rules of which the architect must adapt.

Due to the changes planned and expected in the City Park area all the relations have to be redefined. Once forgotten, the site predesigned for House of Hungarian Music will now be situated right next to restored axis running from the Monument of the 1956’ Revolution to the New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum. This important connection determined the orientation of the building. The main courtyard – entrance plaza turns towards the axis, expecting majority of the visitors to arrive from this direction. This vibrant courtyard is expected to attract people’s attention with the sounds of lively discussions and music. The building is organized around the plaza with many spaces opening towards it and accessible straight from the exterior.

From all sides the building is surrounded by trees and even though it is not far away from other objects and museums, the lake, the meadow, it stays covered form people’s sight. For the same reason the service or delivery areas, which are accessible from existing roads on the north and south side of the lot, remain hidden as well.  The car park for the workers is designed as an underground facility in the part, where now existing buildings stand. Parking places for the handicapped are provided on the surface, next to the staff entrance. Bicycles can be parked by the workers in the small underground parking and by visitors in the entrance courtyard.

The motive that organizes the space around the building are gravel paths and posts of different heights, which become more and more dense while approaching the building, they lead to the destination with the sounds produced. Thanks to the difference of temperatures at it’s top and bottom part, the air moves upwards whistling, giving the sound, therefore the building is the sound.

Architecture, building parts relations

Following the main idea, if we want to make the architecture, which appeals first of all to our ears, we have to make it invisible to our eyes. Therefore the building is scattered on the lot, surrounds the visitors quietly hiding in between the trees, which reduces it’s mass. It allows as well to avoid big heights and fit the programme on the site without the need for cutting out too many trees.  The building surrounds and is surrounded by trees.

Entrance plaza is already a little interior in urban/park scale, belongs to the House of Hungarian Music and can be used for housing outdoor concerts and events. In the summer it becomes a part of the interior even more, as the functions placed inside can take over parts of the space organizing it anew and blurring the boundary between inside and outside. The greenery sneaks into the building as the building sneaks into the landscape.

The building is composed of several functional units corresponding with the programme. They fit into the blocks which intersect, interpenetrate creating the links, spaces and routes inside the building. Connections between certain sections are visible in the layout, and can easily be closed, separating the zones from each other so they can work independently. On the ground level, around the entrance hall, all the accompanying functions are focused, while exhibition spaces are placed on next floors.

The blocks have different dimensions, with one or more storeys of different heights, adapting to the specific needs of spaces  designed for the exhibition, workshop or offices.  As a result, the path inside the building is not as obvious and flat – a walk through the exhibition becomes more like one of the notes of a melody on the stave.

Facades are partly monolith concrete, but most of them are glass supposed to be barely visible, insubstantial. To deceive the sight they should be as impalpable, as intangible as air. Emphasis should be put on the interior finishing, so the different spaces represent different sound comfort, creating excellent conditions in the event hall or experimenting with echo in the Sound Dome or in the Hall, investigating the influence of the material on the reverberation.

Path of the visitor, path of the worker, path of the artifact, after working hours …

The City Park plays different roles in different peoples’ lives. It can be an everyday jogging venue or destination point on a touristic route. The visitors stroll around the park or arrive by public transport, bike or by car, which they leave in one of the big car parks, that are also being planned.  The House of Hungarian Music is situated in the middle of the park, so it requires longer stroll to get there on foot. But it seems  absolutely worth it as the surroundings are of undeniable charm.  We decided not to create any underground passages to let the visitors experience the transition between the exterior and interior, to walk  through the park to hear, encounter, experience the approach to the building instead of finding oneself already inside missing the tempting sounds of unknown origin that could be heard outside. What is more, the tunnels would have to dig deep below the land level not to disturb the trees’ roots.

There are several entrances to the building. The main entrance from the internal courtyard turned towards the park axis, serving the visitors is adjacent to the entrance hall with all the facilities (tickets, information and audioguide counter, cloakroom, toilets) and from there one can get to the exhibition spaces placed on the next floors, museum learning zone, event halls as well as to the museum shop and café. Separate entrances are provided for the museum staff and for delivery of artifacts, goods and for the technical service. Thanks to that the office and research parts of the museum have some tranquility with façades facing the quiet park outside rather than internal courtyard and are partly isolated from the public zone. Most parts can be separated and work after museum working hours, as for instance, the event hall with an entrance of its own and all the necessary service rooms. The offices or workshops have their own parts of the building, separated from the public and exhibition space.  The artifacts arrive to their dock and all the necessary rooms are situated in the north wing of the building creating the research complex with the museum learning centre nearby.