The plans for the Natural History Museum to be built in Debrecen were presented in Cannes – the iconic building of the future on video

The international professional audience received the project, which was designed by the world-famous Bjarke Ingels Group and the Hungarian Vikár and Lukács Építész Stúdió, with great interest. According to several experts, the iconic concept has a good chance of following the international successes of Hungarian museum architecture in recent years, such as the Hungarian Music House in Budapest or the Ethnographic Museum, which have won numerous prestigious international architectural awards. In the video just presented, the audience can also virtually tour the museum of the future, which could be created in Debrecen as a new, spectacular meeting point for nature and science. The hypermodern museum complex will enable the presentation, storage and research of the priceless collection of the Hungarian Museum of Natural History, which consists of more than 11 million items, at world-class standards. A science-based experience complex will be created that can appeal to hundreds of thousands of visitors year after year.

The project of the Debrecen Museum of Natural History was presented at the Hungary stand at MIPIM in Cannes; the Hungarian appearance was organized by the Real Estate Development Roundtable Association and the National Investment Agency.

The museum development fits well into the main theme of the world’s largest real estate trade fair, MIPIM, which focuses on the recycling of urban spaces and technological innovation, and aims to ensure the sustainability of the urban environment. The iconic exhibition building, designed by the world-renowned Danish Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and the Hungarian Vikár and Lukács Építész Stúdió, will be a museum, a science center, an ecological symbol and a community space, presenting the relationship between nature and humans in a new dimension. Supported by the Government of Hungary, one of the largest cultural and scientific investments in the country will not only preserve the country’s largest national natural science collection, but also present it to the public in a new, experiential and interactive form. The project will elevate Debrecen to the leading natural science center of Eastern Europe and a defining tourist and cultural hub in the region. With modern exhibition spaces, scientific programs, green community spaces and family-friendly services, it will appeal to hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

A spectacular animated film was also made to introduce the project, which just debuted at MIPIM. The video invites the viewer to take a virtual walk through the building: it shows the green roof, the exhibition spaces, the community spaces and how the building will connect to the environment of the Great Forest. 

“At the world’s most important international real estate fair, we presented the plans for the exhibition building and collection center of the Hungarian Museum of Natural History in Debrecen with great success. The city’s appeal will be further enhanced by the museum of the future, which, as an iconic landscape element, will open a new chapter in the history of Hungarian museum architecture and will be able to address not only the population of Hungary, but also the population of the Romanian Partium, Transcarpathian Ukraine and the eastern Slovak regions. Debrecen will not only become a stronghold of Hungarian scientific life, but also a cultural hub of the Eastern European region. The Hungarian center of nature will be built in the Debrecen center of nature. The city’s scientific base, university background and cultural infrastructure all support the project – the aim is to “The city should emerge as a competitive cultural powerhouse on both a national and international level.”

– emphasized Ferenc Kun, the Debrecen Infrastructure Development Manager responsible for the implementation of the Natural History Museum’s exhibition building in Debrecen.

The new building of the Natural History Museum in Debrecen could be the next iconic project of Hungarian contemporary architecture, which – according to the expectations of the international profession – could become one of the most cited European museum buildings in the coming years.

In 2019, the Government of Hungary decided that the new, modern center of the Hungarian Natural History Museum would be built in Debrecen. The joint entry of the world-famous Bjarke Ingels Group and the Vikár and Lukács Építész Stúdió was selected in the international design competition for the exhibition building. Negotiations are currently underway with the winning bidders on the terms of the contract.

A museum that gives back the forest

The new exhibition space of the Natural History Museum in Debrecen is not only being built in a sustainable way, but also actively contributes to the ecological renewal of the Great Forest. A significant part of the 23,000 m² complex, built on the site of the former Oláh Gábor Street stadium, functions as an inner garden, and the green roof, covered with native plants, naturally extends the forest canopy. The shape and mass of the building are