Hungarian Natural History Museum Debrecen, Hungary building project, Architecture competition winners

Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen

7 April 2025

Architecture: BIG

Location: Debrecen, Hungary

Images: BIG

Hungarian Natural History Museum, Hungary

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group has been selected to design the home of the new Hungarian Natural History Museum in Hungary’s second-largest city, Debrecen. The 23,000 sqm museum will be nestled within the centuries-old Great Forest in the northern part of the city, proposing three overlapping landscaped ribbons that gently rise from the forest floor to form a new public and scientific destination.

Located on a former sports ground at the edge of Debrecen’s Great Forest, Nagyerdő, the new Hungarian Natural History Museum is designed in collaboration with Vikár és Lukács Építés Stúdió, Museum Studio and TYPSA. The museum will replace the existing institution in Budapest, supporting the government’s vision to establish Debrecen as a key regional hub for education and culture by 2030. Commissioned by the Museum and the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, the new museum will house permanent and temporary exhibition halls, educational and research facilities, public amenities, and back-of-house spaces.

“Natural history is a subject dear to me – so dear that I named my oldest son Darwin. To that end, it is a great honor to have been entrusted with the authorship of the Hungarian Natural History Museum in the Great Forest of Debrecen. Our design is conceived as an intersection of paths and lineages. Intersecting ribbons of landscape overlap to produce a series of niches and habitats, halls and galleries, blending the inside and the outside, the intimate and the mastodontic in seamless continuity. The result is a manmade hill in a forest clearing; geometrically clear yet softly organic – an appropriate home for the wonders of the natural world.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG

The new museum is defined by three overlapping volumes that rise and fall with the landscape. With a mass timber structure and charred timber facade, the museum is partially sunken into the ground and rises from the forest floor to visually blend into its park surroundings, while its sloping roofscape invites public access and offers expansive views of the city.

“We envisioned the Hungarian Natural History Museum as an integrated part of its environment, both shaped by and shaping the landscape around it. Constructed from mass timber, the building features a façade of locally sourced charred timber panels that emerge from the ground, blurring the lines between architecture and wilderness. The museum draws on the thermal mass of the ground and integrates on-site energy systems, including geothermal loops and photovoltaic panels, to ensure a stable indoor climate year-round. Rather than simply preserving the site, the building restores and enhances it – regenerating biodiversity while quietly adapting to its surroundings.” – Hanna Johansson, Partner, BIG

Approaching from any direction, visitors are met with open plazas, winding forest paths and framed views through and over the building. The museum is accessible from all sides, integrating it into both the urban fabric and the surrounding natural landscape. The arrival is marked by a generous southern plaza that forms a meeting point for community life and museum activities.

Inside, the reception hall acts as a central compass point, offering glimpses into the surrounding exhibition wings – five for permanent galleries and one for temporary shows and public programs, organized in a radial layout. Above, a library and restaurant offer views into the forest canopy, while below, a learning hub hosts workshops, play spaces and research labs for students, families and staff.

Minimizing its footprint, the museum is partially hidden in the terrain. The sloping green roofs are planted with native species, offering habitats for local flora and fauna while visually extending the park over the museum. Vegetation continues through the site and into the building, offering areas for rest and gatherings for the public year-round.

Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen, Hungary – Building Information

Design: Ferdinánd és Ferdinánd – https://big.dk/

Name: Hungarian Natural History Museum
Size: 23,000 sqm
Location: Debrecen, Hungary
Client: DIF Debrecen
Collaborators: Vikár és Lukács Építés Stúdió, Museum Studio – London, TYPSA

Project Team:

Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Hanna Johansson
Project Leader: Jakub Fratczak
Team: Alessandra Baroni, Camila Antonella Mina, Camila Pagnoncelli, Dominika Kłopotek, Gian Marco Prisco, Juan Carpio, Nicolas Bachmann Bellido, Olivia Sarra Gómez, Angel Barreno Gutiérrez