Hungarian Natural History Museum byrises from Debrecens Great Forest
Bjarke Ingels Group and its Hungarian partner Vikár és Lukács Architecture Studio have designed the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen, a 23,000-square-metre institution planned for the city’s historic Great Forest. Selected through an international competition, the project has received two honours at the 14th Annual Architizer A+Awards. It was named Jury Winner in the Unbuilt Landscape category and Popular Choice Winner in the Unbuilt Institutional category. The proposal brings exhibitions, education, research and public facilities together beneath a continuous planted roof.
The building is formed by three overlapping ribbons that rise gradually from the forest floor. Their curved profiles create a low artificial hill instead of a conventional museum volume. Each ribbon contains a different part of the programme, while shared circulation connects the spaces across the site. Exhibition halls, classrooms, laboratories and visitor facilities are arranged around a clear internal structure. The roof remains accessible, extending the public route above the building and towards viewpoints across the surrounding woodland.
Mass timber defines the primary construction system and gives the interiors a warm, natural character. Locally sourced timber is also used across the external envelope, linking the architecture to regional materials and building traditions. Parts of the museum are embedded in the ground to improve thermal stability and protect sensitive collections. Glazed areas open public spaces towards the trees, while more enclosed façades reduce direct sunlight in galleries, storage rooms and research areas.
The landscape plays an active role in the environmental strategy. Native planting covers the roof and continues the visual line of the forest canopy across the former sports ground. Openings between the three volumes create sheltered outdoor areas where vegetation can develop over time. These planted zones are intended to support local habitats and encourage the return of flora and fauna. The project therefore treats sustainable architecture as both an energy question and a process of ecological repair.
Inside, the museum is planned as a flexible environment for scientific collections, temporary exhibitions and public learning. Visitors move between displays, educational spaces and areas dedicated to research, gaining access to activities that are often hidden in traditional museums. The building also includes social spaces where events, workshops and community programmes can take place. Its radial organisation allows the different functions to operate independently while remaining connected through a central public route.
The Hungarian Natural History Museum is designed as a green-smart building that generates part of its energy from on-site sources and limits harmful emissions during operation. Its relationship with the Great Forest remains central to every aspect of the proposal, from the low profile to the planted roof and timber structure. Developed by BIG and Vikár és Lukács Architecture Studio with Museum Studio and TYPSA, the project presents the museum as a public landscape where science, education and nature meet.
Photos credit: BIG, via v2com
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