SANAA Wins Tie in Hungary

In April it was deemed that "both represent architecturally outstanding value and are of a world class standard both in their approach to the museum collection and to visitor needs," per a statement from Városliget Zrt., which is overseeing the New National Gallery – Ludwig Museum, one of five museums* that are part of the Liget Budapest Project in City Park.

The tie-breaker announcement comes after months of negotiations with the two architecture studios and consideration of "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," per the statement.

The released renderings show the design by SANAA – the duo of Pritzker Prize winners Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa – made up of angular flat planes (walls, floors, roofs) asymmetrically stacked about a grid of columns. Further, a number of outdoor terraces wrap the enclosed gallery spaces.

The New National Gallery–Ludwig Museum is planned to open in 2019.

The other museums are the Hungarian House of Music (Sou Fujimoto), the Enthnographic Museum (Vallet de Martinis DIID Architectes), the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and the FotoMuzeum (both Középülettervező Zrt.).