Villa building in a popular area of the green belt of Budapest satisfying above-average requirements. Surpassing the routine solution represented by the tent-roofed square houses dominating the neighbourhood, an open, well-lit and aerated but still protective spatial composition turning inwards was created, organized around an internal courtyard.
The closedness of the entrance elevation composed with solid surfaces and narrow openings is counterbalanced by the glazed openness of the garden sides creating dynamics attracting towards the garden in the spatial structure. The “wall-and-hole“ architecture fundamentally characterizing the house is not fully resolved even on the most open garden elevation. The loft and the swimming pool levels were shaped with reserved window surfaces, high lintels and solid bulwarks. The internal court is embraced from three sides by one or two levels and at some places floating masses, but full-level height openings are only along the court; the wall surfaces mostly preserve their compactness. Regarding the materials used – from the major periods of the development of Rózsadomb – we reflected the modern traditions before the war. The elevations are simple, plastered, white surfaces with metal-structure glass walls and wooden-structure doors and windows. Approaching from the street, the entrance is defined by the connection of the ground-floor garage and the two-level cantilevered living section bending over it. The transversal triple space of the kitchen-dining room-living room is explored from the space of the facile, open staircase adjoining from the side, which transparently frames the internal court with crosswise architectural and interior design elements, while it leads to the terrace floating over the garden. From this main level, one can reach the loft upstairs or the swimming pool and the service level downstairs, using the lift or the staircase next to each other.
Archives: ZDA munkák
Művészetek Palotája, Szurgut (En)
Design study for a multifunctional cultural centre, similar to the Budapest Palace of Arts, for the Siberian city of Surgut.
Karmelita kolostor (En)
The 300-year complex of the Carmelite Monastery in the Buda Castle is a dominant building of the Palace District situated between the Castle and the civil town. Now the management of the Prime Minister’s Office, earlier headquartered in the building of the Parliament, moved in the building serving public administration and cultural purposes since 230 years.
The existing building follows the classical layout of monasteries with wings framing an internal courtyard and cloisters. The fixed floor plan of the building and the features arising from the original monastery function presented the architects with a real challenge. The historic preservation expectations and the functional requirements of the office had to be complied with at the same time, and an appropriate environment had to be designed for state protocol. In full consideration of the aspects of historic preservation, mechanical engineering and other special technology systems were concealed.
The church wing was transformed into a theatre with wooden structure already at the end of the 18th century, and, during the reconstruction in the 1970s, the church space was divided by reinforced concrete slabs. During the current renovation, these slab structures were demolished, the walled-up church windows reopened, and the original space with high ceiling was re-established. This imposing space is excellent for protocol events as well as cultural and social events.
In the vacant part of the site next to the existing historic building, a new office building was erected as an extension for the office function in the place of the building that stood there earlier and demolished after World War II. This building with modern interior design provides a practical frame for everyday office life. Its exterior appearance is characterized by stone-cladded durable architecture to match the castle atmosphere.
Corvin Áruház Megújítása (En)
The proposal complying with the client’s demand for the renewal of the dysfunctional building of Corvin Department Store, one of the first large department stores in Budapest, is a UEC (Urban Entertainment Center) not yet existent at the time in Budapest, which unites attractive high-end retail and cultural facilities. The retail zone designed at the street level and additional upstairs levels and the elegant banquet hall above them looking at the city, or in another version the roof level event space, can be, differing from shopping mall retail outlets, a venue for amusement, gastronomy or special product presentations – while the large halls may receive high-quality and popular mass events. Retail sales and gastronomy will be installed in the ground-floor and underground spaces in a section independent from the events. The attractions of the building complying with its individual function and urban role are the special spatial experiences: arriving from the metro, the terraced stairs, or the soft, amorphous mass of the central showroom floating in space. The sketch designs gave a proposal for not only the possible rehabilitation of the building, but, by the study of the complete urban environment, designated its role in the framework of the revitalization concept of the inner city.
Sasadliget lakópark (En)
The area of the former Kinizsi Barracks on the Sasad slope – with a vista to Sashegy and Csillebérc – with its neglected buildings and deteriorated green surfaces is the last large, contiguous real estate property divided into seven distinct blocks by the regulation plan.
The architectural office prepared the development concept for the entire 10.5-ha area, for the 1.9-ha area to be built up in the first phase as well as the plans for the residential park consisting of 6 individually designed residential buildings altogether with 215 apartments.
After the joint work on the concept, an architect of its own was assigned to each building, so each house within the block represents an individual character. Adjusted to the organic terrain conditions, two point houses and four houses with side corridors were designed. The buildings with complex masses are adjusted outwards, towards the site boundaries, surrounding a park adjusted to the existing terrain form – a trench. The green area formed in the interior of the block is enriched with spectacular space elements as a result of terrain shaping. In the planning process, the architects attempted to resolve the usual monotony of residential parks by the individual shaping of the buildings.
A budavári, volt Honvédelmi Főparancsnokság épületének hasznosítása (En)
In cooperation with Péter Kis’s Architects Studio, a tourism and cultural centre was designed for Dísz Square, the pivotal point of Buda Castle, by re-thinking the ruins of the former Headquarters for National Defence and Ministry of National Defence. The contemporary stone block refers to the roof shapes of the Buda Castle.
On the ground floor and under the terrain, the spaces of tourism and building services, on the first floor, an event hall with special interior design, while on the second floor, on the “architectural plateau” created at a 10-m height, a space for individual fine art exhibitions of nation-wide importance or large events was designed.
Művészetek Palotája, Szentpétervár (En)
The concept worked out for Trigránit Zrt as developer examined the possibility of creating a new city centre on Vasilyevsky Island the ports of which are of high importance in the city’s architectural and institutional life, and where one of Russia’s greatest universities is found. In the original concept, in the framework of a mixed-use development, a commercial complex was coupled with residential, office and hotel functions and with the installation of a big television production studio. The planned synergic complex provides excellent services for the population of the area and the business life of the city.
The second version was the architectural part of a PPP tender of an investor. Here, we proposed a mixed-use development: in the heart of the project, we conceived a multifunctional facility complying with the complex technological expectations and preserving and renewing Saint Petersburg’s cultural traditions in a modern manner including concert, conference and exhibition facilities. Apart from the concert hall with adjustable acoustics, seating 1,800, an exhibition and event centre and a conference hall seating 2,500 was planned. The installation of the all-round complex resulted in different, dynamic external and internal spaces, creating a new city centre in Saint Petersburg.
Corvin sétány 125-ös tömb, C4 irodaépület (En)
The Corvin Project is a 21st century real estate development project that affects an entire quarter of the city in a traditionally built area of Budapest with lagging population. Block 125 designed by ZDA for office and residential functions recreates the atmosphere of classical city squares with the main square in the middle and the connected community spaces in the heterogeneous urban texture.
Corvin Block 125 is one of the most complex design areas within the Corvin Promenade. Single-level to three-level developments usual in the first half of the 20th century are mixed with the 17 and other multi-level concrete block-of-flats architecture of the ‘60s and ‘70s. The challenge in the task was to find the scale best fitting the heterogeneous city texture.
In 2006, in the framework of a restricted tender, our Corvin Knowledge Park plan for a block of the Corvin Project won the competition. In 2014, as a continuation, we prepared a plan for a block receiving office and residential functions where we aimed at a 21th century phrasing of classical city squares when shaping the development. The character of Block 125, differently from generously handled other public squares of the Corvin Promenade, invokes a small-town scale: it is a complex of community spaces one loosely flowing into another with a main square in the centre connecting pedestrian axes, decorated with a contemporary sculpture.
The design of office buildings, which we analyse not only from architectural, but also from functional aspect, was handled with priority. After several development versions, the office buildings were installed as an “asymmetrical gate”, leading the theatrical Grand Promenade into a more relaxed series of city spaces with this solution. Next to the office buildings with dashing, arched elevations, we designed stocky residential towers, and the cosy public areas of the quarter flowing into one another appear between the blocks with different character.
In the professional contest of International Property Awards, the Corvin Promenade won the Award for the Best Mixed-Function Real Estate Project in 2010, and, in 2014, the Global Award for Excellence of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) – called also the Oscars of real estate development – as well. The building received BREEAM qualification which is the benchmark ofenvironmental awareness.
Fácán Rendezvényhelyszín, Zugliget (En)
This part of Zugliget was a popular hiking spot of Buda citizens in the late 1800s. Now, the area is decaying under unworthy conditions. We wished to return the area to its former glory by renovating the Hild Villa, the Fácán Inn (former Horthy Villa) and a residential building in the style of Swiss villas situated on the 8.7-hectare protected area. Our feasibility study envisaged the renovation of the existing monument buildings, installing additional functions and constructions, designing a residence, governmental guest house and event centre.
