The New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum Proposal
Socially responsible behavior is dependent on repetitive individual and collective exposure to our cultural evolution. Many museums today seem to see their visitors as the largest threat to their own collections and exhibitions. This attitude leaves museums “passive” in their performative role as cutting-edge institutions and in their relationship to the public at large.
To enable the New Hungarian National Gallery and the Ludwig Museum to have the desired active role, interacting and communicating with their audience, our proposal is based on the wish to unify two museums in one building while maintaining a strong individual identity for each.
We are situating both institutions under a singular public roof that is always accessible. By doing so, the roof becomes an inherent part of the City Park, as does its elevated continuation offering great views over the whole of Budapest.
Architecturally we strive to create a museum building that offers exciting, modern, and contemporary spaces that enable an art experience confidently suited to the display of art from varying epochs and styles. We aim to create an inspirational environment for education and museum learning, where the thoughts and philosophical mindsets fundamental to any form of art creation and understanding are at the center. The center point of the building symbolizes the meeting point of two art institutions, the meeting of light and earth at the horizon simultaneously resolving practicalities of daylighting and embodying gravity at the meeting of the Ludwig Museum and the New National Gallery.
In the heart of the building we envision a large open public space that serves both institutions. Here the visitors, local and from afar, young and old, are invited to start their journey of exploring art. The juxtaposition of the two institutions beneath a common fabric creates a space where tensions serve to inspire – a metaphysical reaction field between collections, and beyond the individual mind.
