Form and Function: Transcending Noise Inside Budapest’s House of Music
These days, visual and auditory delights ascend in many forms. Especially in Budapest, the fabled city known for its renowned opera house, music academy and legendary concert halls. Last year, The House of Music, a performance venue and exhibition space opened its doors. Designed by the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, and situated in the heart of City Park, an otherworldly-meets-organic structure functions in what Fujimoto dubbed as a “continuation of the natural environment.”
The exterior of the free-floating structure, wrapped in a glass wall and topped with an overhanging roof punctuated by 100 circular openings, many of which contain sycamore trees; ushers in the familiar feeling of being in nature. A suspended 3-story white spiral staircase mimics “the three movements of a musical score,” Fujimoto said. Of course, don’t forget to look up; 30,000 geometric shapes made of metal dot the ceiling and are designed to look like tree leaves. “We wanted to transform the forest into architecture,” Fujimoto explained.
Inspired by German architect Fritz Bornemann’s iconic, spherical Kugelauditorim, an interior “sound dome” offers an immersive 360-degree sound experience from a cluster of 32 loudspeakers. An audio-visual component also comes into play – including a series of looped short films. A subterranean level houses the gallery spaces, where a permanent exhibition called Sound Dimensions shares the sweepingly epic story of European music. Following the origins of Hungarian music and beyond, you’ll delve into folk and medieval cathedral selections; pass through shamanic drums and deep Georgina chants; and later, thrust into a holographic world of composers a la Bach, Mozart and Beethoven; followed by the birth of opera. Undoubtedly, a swirl of astral travel is involved (though passports are not required). Noted Hungarian composers like Béla Bartók, Franz Liszt and Zoltán Kocsis are also celebrated. “In Hungary all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance,” Liszt once said
Where to Find It:
Budapest, Olof Palme stny. 3, 1146 Hungary
Budapest, Andrássy út 22, 1061 Hungary
Budapest, Vigadó tér 2, 1051 Hungary
Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8, 1061 Hungary
