A museum is more than just the display of its own appearance
Lessons of a Budapest conference on museum architecture
MúzeumCafé 40.
We increasingly hear what architects, aestheticians, museologists and researchers of culture across the world think about museum architecture. However, we only rarely encounter what major international architects think about their own work and the museums they have designed, especially in a conference hall in Hungary – even more so, if the series of presentations is closed by someone who designed the first version of the building housing the conference. On 8 March this year, The Bálna (Whale) in Budapest hosted an international architecture congress, during which the already announced international competition for the design of Liget Budapest and the forthcoming one for the Rubik Museum were highlighted. Ministerial commissioner and Fine Arts Museum director László Baán spoke about the former and government commissioner Balázs Fürjes about the latter, after which internationally acknowledged experts presented their views about museum architecture. The list of names itself speaks volumes – internationally renowned architect Mario Botta, Danish architect Erik Nobel, as well as Bolle Tham and Martin Videgård, well-known for their Kalmar Museum of Art. Last to speak was professor of digital design at Delft University of Technology Kas Oosterhuis, architect of The Bálna. Among the presentations about the links between culture and architecture, three are summarised, which distinctly dealt with contemporary issues of museum design and the lessons of projects implemented in recent years. These overlapped with each other, although from different perspectives. Design combined with bold aesthetics is essential, but only truly successful if the architect can effectively and intelligently address the urban space.