Budapest Music Center

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Budapest Music Center

Firm

Art1st Design Studio

Type

Cultural › Hall/Theater

Photographs: Tamás, Bujonovszky

The Music Centre is located in a newly emerging cultural district of Budapest. Although a large part of the premises are open to the public, private resources financed most of the transformation of the 120 years-old former residential building, and one can sense in every part of it that this house was built by a musician for musicians.
During the construction, many musicians who visited the site walked around the half-finished building, imagining themselves playing on stage, exchanging ideas, looking up a score in the library, or listening to a CD. On occasion, even tears were shed - and there were some who came late at night to become the first to play between the half-finished walls. They all felt that this building is about them, for them. From the very beginning, László Gőz considered it important that everyone who enters the house should feel that it is his dream as a musician that has been realized here, not that of a billionaire investor; nor was it brought into being as a result of a government decision. In this building, the musician is all-important, as anyone can tell who comes to listen to a concert, visits the library, or drops in for a cup of tea for no particular reason.

The project is supported by three internationally known contemporary music composers of Hungary, György Ligeti, György Kurtág and Péter Eötvös. The Kurtág family created a foundation called Music Forum to support the activities of the house. Péter Eötvös moved the Eötvös Institute from Paris to the Budapest Music Center, connecting the institution to the international music scene.

The original building was a one-story residential building with shops facing the street on the ground floor, built in 1890 in the neoclassical style of the XIXth century. During the Second World War, the building was converted into Russian military quarters, later the former shops were converted into apartments.
The building was not protected by local heritage, but the elevation was kept intact over the years. Its structural system is traditional with a central courtyard surrounded by three wings comprising cellar, ground floor, first floor and attic levels. By the early 2000s the building was in such bad condition that only those main structural elements were maintained which were necessary for the functionality of the new institution.

The almost 10 years’ hard work of preparing, designing and implementing the building had a large impact on the interior design: it had to reflect the huge personal achievement of creating this institution in the midst of an economic crisis. In order to do so, the design solutions had to be simple, straightforward and functional at the same time, while maintaining a handcrafted detail. This was the background that finally made the house likeable, tangible, welcoming and comfortable despite its scale and functionality.

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Budapest Music Center

Other Projects by Art1st Design Studio

Chilly Valley Villa

Budapest Music Center

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team