Empty since 2009, the North Kőbánya Industrial Zone is a huge area of 22 hectares currently the subject of ambitious building projects, including new workshops and halls for the Hungarian State Opera.
Next door, the Diesel Hall is earmarked for the new Transport Museum, which moved out of the City Park in 2015. Features such as attractive display areas for 619 large vehicles had to be factored into the new design, as well as an art warehouse, a specialised library and a documentation centre.
The winners of the design contest are American architects Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, perhaps best known for the High Line Community Park and Cultural Area, a multi-phase expansion of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The NYC-based company also headed the design team behind the reconfiguration of Zaryadye Park beside Red Square in Moscow in the autumn of 2017.
Here, industrial heritage is excitingly counter-balanced with a contemporary exhibition hall and high-quality open spaces. The aim is to create a museum that is constantly changing, always providing the visitor with a new experience. Alongside the permanent collection, micro-galleries showcase the new and the temporary.
The huge glass façades not only reveal the structure of the original industrial building as fully as possible, but the museum’s spectacular collection can be seen from the outside, even by those without a ticket. The park around blurs the strict boundary between outside and inside, between nature and construction.
Some exhibits may even be moved outside, as a backdrop for family picnics. The Diesel Hall will become a multi-storey urban public space under a roof that appears to be floating. Great emphasis is being placed on sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions.
An exhibition will soon open showing these plans, and all winning entries for different aspects of the complex. Watch this space!
