BIG Unveils Timber-Structured Design for the New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen

BIG, Bjarke Ingels Group, has been selected to design the new Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen. Located on a former sports ground at the northern edge of the city's Great Forest, Nagyerdő, the 23,000 m² museum is being developed in collaboration with Vikár és Lukács Építés Stúdió, Museum Studio, and TYPSA. The new institution will replace the existing museum in Budapest, supporting the government's vision to establish Debrecen as a regional hub for education and culture by 2030. Commissioned by the Museum and the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, the new building will house permanent and temporary exhibition halls, educational and research facilities, public amenities, and back-of-house spaces.

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New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen . Image © BIG

The proposed design features three overlapping ribbons that rise from the forest floor, shaping a public and scientific destination. With a mass timber structure and charred timber façade, BIG's museum is partially sunken into the ground, blending into its park surroundings, while its sloping roofscape invites public access and offers expansive city views. The design integrates open plazas, winding forest paths, and framed views through and over the building. Accessible from all sides, the arrival experience is marked by a southern plaza, serving as a meeting point for community life and museum activities.

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New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen . Image © BIG

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


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The building will feature five exhibition wings dedicated to permanent galleries and one for temporary exhibitions and public programs, arranged in a radial layout. A reception hall serves as the central navigation point, while a library and restaurant above offer views into the forest canopy. Below, a learning hub will host workshops, play spaces, and research labs. The roof is to be planted with native species, explicitly designed to provide habitats for local flora and fauna, and visually extending the park over the museum. Vegetation will also be integrated into the building's interior, accompanying rest and gathering areas for visitors throughout the year.

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New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen . Image © BIG
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New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen . Image © BIG

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

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New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen . Image © BIG
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New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen . Image © BIG

Other recent BIG projects include the recently completed Jinji Lake Pavilion in China, a 1,200 m² public and hospitality space; the design for Kosovo's first Opera House, featuring an undulating photovoltaic roof; and an 8,500 m² palliative care center envisioned as a village surrounded by nature in Denmark. Bjarke Ingels will also participate in the Salone del Mobile talks on April 10, discussing how materiality, technology, and human interaction can redefine urban planning.

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Cite: Antonia Piñeiro. "BIG Unveils Timber-Structured Design for the New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen" 03 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028727/big-unveils-timber-structured-design-for-the-new-hungarian-natural-history-museum-in-debrecen> ISSN 0719-8884

 New Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen . Image © BIG

在森林中编织大地,BIG中标匈牙利自然历史博物馆

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