Debrecen Collection Center project by Sordo Madaleno. Main facade render. Image © BsArq
Sordo Madaleno, in collaboration with építész stúdió and Buro Happold, has been selected to design the 43,000-square-meter New Debrecen Collection Center for the Hungarian Museum of Natural History. Debrecen, Hungary‘s second-largest city, is currently the focus of significant urban and university-related development, including plans to relocate the Hungarian Museum of Natural History from Budapest to the edge of Debrecen’s Great Forest. The proposed Collection Center is conceived as a facility dedicated to the controlled storage and study of more than 11 million objects, drawing conceptual inspiration from traditional Hungarian clay vessels, structures historically used to protect and preserve. The project would mark the first European cultural commission for the Mexican architecture practice, which operates studios in London and Mexico City.