sou fujimoto tops ‘house of music’ in budapest with perforated roof canopy

By Judy J. Beasley Last updated Dec 28, 2022

The “house of music” designed by sou fujimoto opens its doors

nestled among the trees of budapestCity Park is a new cultural monument dedicated to music designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. Called the “house of music”, the new 9,000 m² building features a huge corrugated roof with 100 crater-like perforations to accommodate the surrounding trees. inside of Museum hosts a range of musical experiences, including exhibits on the history of European music and Hungarian pop, as well as concerts and educational musical workshops.

now open to the public, the house of music is part of the liget project budapest — the largest urban cultural development program in europe.

“Musical creation is at the heart of the human experience. the house is a one-of-a-kind institution created to showcase the beauty of sound and music, and the important role it plays in all aspects of our lives,’ says andrás batta, general manager of the house of music, hungary and former president of the liszt academy.

pictures by palko gyorgy© liget budapest

a golden forest of music

designed as “a continuation of the landscape”, the facade of the building is clad in a curtain of glass, revealing the monumental canopy of the roof and blurring the boundary between interior and exterior. this glazed elevation treatment is made up of 94 custom-made, heat-insulated and non-horizontally divided panels. the slender columns between the park and the glass building echo the surrounding nature to create the sense of walking among a forest of music.

lead architect sou fujimoto explains, ‘we were enchanted by the multitude of trees in the city park and inspired by the space created by them. while the thick, rich canopy covers and protects its surroundings, it also allows sunlight to reach the ground. I envisioned the open floor plan, where the boundaries between indoors and outdoors blur, as a continuation of the natural surroundings.

the underside of the roof canopy is covered with more than 30,000 gold “leaves” and the perforations are coated in the same gold color, which become dazzling skylights during the day. at night, the underside of the canopy is also illuminated with artificial light to create a luminous beacon in the city park. in addition to nature, the design of the roof is also informed by the varying shape of sound waves.

30,000 geometric “leaves” cover the underside of the roof canopy

the museum is organized on three levels to reflect the three movements of a musical score and to mix nature and music. the ground floor at park level contains a glass-walled concert hall with a capacity of 320 seats and a castable stage. the park level also hosts an outdoor stage for daytime and evening events while the top floor is dedicated to educational spaces.

the underground level includes the permanent and temporary exhibitions and a hemispherical sound dome modeled after a spherical concert hall opened by composer karlheinz stockhausen at the 1970 world’s fair. the house of music’s sound dome is an immersive experience that accommodates up to 60 visitors to experience 360-degree surround sound emitted in all directions from more than 31 speakers, creating hologram-like walls of sound.

the permanent exhibition on the subterranean level is entitled “sound dimensions – musical journeys in space and time”, and takes visitors on an immersive musical journey through 2,000 years of musical creation in europe. the three levels of the museum are connected by a sculptural spiral stairs.

see previous designboom cover from sou fujimoto’s house of music here.

crater-shaped perforations act as huge skylights