Archinect - News

New photos of Kinzo-designed interiors in Foster + Partners' record-setting MOL Headquarters

2023-10-11T13:36:00-04:00

Archinect has received new photos of Foster + Partners' now in-use MOL Group corporate headquarters tower in Budapest following a public opening that took place in the Hungarian capital earlier this spring. The building's interiors were designed by Berlin-based architecture studio Kinzo Architekten.

The tower was inaugurated in December and is the tallest structure in Hungary, topping out at 469 feet and 28 floors. It joins F+P’s Varso Tower design in Poland, now the EU’s tallest building, as two record-setting constructions that were completed last year. The firm says it is part of their focus to design office spaces that meet contemporary demands from workers and environmental advocates.

Image: © HGEsch

In terms of sustainability, the low and zero-carbon technology offerings include a 900-panel rooftop photovoltaic array, ground source heat pumps, greywater recycling, and a state-of-the-art rainwater harvesting system. Heating and cooling provided by a radiant panel system work to ...

Hello Wood creates airplane-inspired tiny home for an ambitious 12-year-old client

2023-02-14T12:48:00-05:00

Budapest-based Hello Wood has completed what it describes as “its most charming and eccentric small house ever.” Named the Jet House, the project comprises of a cottage shaped like a pastel blue airplane, set within a ring of trees in the hills of Hungary.

The project was initiated by an undaunted 12-year-old client named Lujzi, who dreamed of a playhouse she could retreat to with her friends. From Lujzi’s vision, the design team emerged with a functional tiny house which, in their words, is “more reminiscent of a beautiful design toy than a building.”

Image credit: Zsuzsa Darab

“Lujzi has always enjoyed traveling - especially flying on aircraft, which is why she had an airplane-themed cabin in her dreams,” Hello Wood explains. “She arrived at the first meetings with elaborate ideas and plans on paper. Supported by his father, she followed the design process till its end – representing an excitingly different perspective from that of typical real estate developers.”

Image credit: Zsu...

Foster + Partners completes Budapest’s tallest building

2022-12-13T12:23:00-05:00

Foster + Partners has shared photos of its just-finished MOL Group corporate headquarters campus in Budapest after a ribbon-cutting ceremony that was held last week in the Hungarian capital.

At 143 meters (469 feet), the design is a collaboration with Finta Studio and now the city’s tallest construction with space for 2,500 employees of the energy company in addition to two restaurants, a 29th-floor observation deck, gym, and visitors center.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

The interior floor plans are designed for maximum flexibility following the Activity-Based Workplace (ABW) model. Finally, its claims to be a “bastion of modern architecture and sustainability” are bolstered by rainwater harvesting capabilities, a greywater recycling system, geothermal heating system, and 900 solar panels.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

“As we see the nature of the workplace changing to a more collaborative vision, we have combined two buildings — a tower and a podium — into a singular form, bo...

Budapest's new Museum of Ethnography features a green roof that arcs down from the sky into the ground plane, connecting park to city

2022-08-31T14:36:00-04:00

Photos of the recently inaugurated award-winning new Museum of Ethnography in Budapest’s Városliget City Park by NAPUR Architect Ltd have been released.

The museum is a part of the larger Liget Budapest development and marks the first time in the 150-year history of the institution that its 250,000 object collection will be stored in one contiguous facility.

All images courtesy of NAPUR Architect Ltd.

The local studio beat out international heavyweight such as Zaha Hadid to win the commission for the project, which the jury commended as being “distinguished by a dynamic yet simple design harmonized with the natural environment of the park while communicating with the urban texture of its surroundings.”

All images courtesy of NAPUR Architect Ltd.

As NAPUR describes: “The gently curving lines enable the building to function as a gateway and a passage linking the city and the park. Sixty percent of the structure is under ground level, and thanks to the landscaped roof and the transpa...

Sou Fujimoto's House of Music finally opens in Budapest

2022-01-24T15:23:00-05:00

A new landmark on the European cultural scene is now on view in Hungary. Sou Fujimoto’s House of Music has now officially opened in the country’s capital city after almost six years of construction.

The 97,000-square-foot performance venue is the centerpiece of the Liget Budapest Project, a €1 billion ($1.13 billion) development billed to be one of the biggest in recent European history that includes the music hall, new national art gallery, cultural building, and landscaped areas situated a the center of one of the continent’s historic capitals of music.

Image copyright Palkó György

Fujimoto’s design distributes the interactive program of education, exhibition, and performance spaces across three levels with a variety of plant life springing up from its core to create a naturalistic environment that significantly enhances the experience of the visitor. The building’s paneled glass facade presents a seamless transition between exterior park and interior mu...

Zaha Hadid Architects unveils plans for a new green district in the heart of Budapest

2021-11-12T15:16:00-05:00

Intent on reconnecting the city’s 1.75 million residents with nature, Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled renderings for Zugló City Centre in Budapest.

The new mixed-use development will transform the city’s 14th district into a 17-ace site between Rákos Creek and historic Bosnyák Square over the course of the next decade.

Courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Joined by a series of interconnected gardens and public squares, the site’s master plan includes an intricate program of restaurants, cafés, offices spaces, a reimagined town hall, and a new medical center meant to significantly improve the quality of life in the area.

Courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

“The project looks at the surrounding ecosystems, integrating the future developments of the district and Budapest city to develop a strong bond with the renaturalisation of Rákos Creek; enhancing biodiversity and establishing a comprehensive natural ecosystem facilitating ecological connectivity with the broader landscapes,” landscape de...

Allianz Arena will not display rainbow colors in support of LGBTQ activists following a controversial UEFA ruling

2021-06-22T21:01:00-04:00

UEFA has rejected a call from activists to convert the Allianz Arena in Munich into a rainbow-covered light scheme in unison with protests ahead of Germany’s final European Championship group game with Hungary that it is slated to host on Wednesday.

The city council’s proposal was rejected by Europe’s governing soccer body after a ruling cited the effort’s political motivations as the reasoning behind the denial.

Activists are looking to shed light on the recent passage of a bill they say is meant to target LGBTQ education in Hungary’s public school system. The Herzog and de Meuron-designed stadium would have joined other Bundesliga pitches across the country in a show of solidarity that will now be expressed by fans inside the stadium, at Town Hall, and on the city’s nearby Olympiaturm as support for the protest grows.

Aerial photo of Allianz Arena. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons user Chumwa.

“We in Munich certainly won’t let ourselves be discouraged from sending a clear signal to...

Construction photos show Sou Fujimoto's House of Hungarian Music nearing completion

2021-01-20T17:45:00-05:00

Image courtesy of Liget BudapestPraised by both the architecture and music profession, Sou Fujimoto's House of Hungarian Music aimed to blend the natural and built environment. According to Fujimoto, he wanted to create a sense of harmony between "the nature of sound and the sounds of nature." The project will be a structural icon for Budapest as part of the Liget Budapest Project, the largest and "most ambitious" cultural development program in Europe.

House of Hungarian Music. Image © Mohai Balazs/Courtesy of Liget Budapest

From its glass-walled facade to its perforated canopy, what makes the sing is its undulating roof that is said to represent the "visual representation of the vibration of sound: the wave." Its organic design emphasizes renewable energy and environmentally aware construction methods (as noted by BREEAM). Fujimoto and his team also drew design inspiration from the Secessionist building of the Liszt Academy and Hungary's music and music education traditions.

Image ...

New Budapest mayor blocks construction of SANAA-designed New National Gallery

2019-12-03T18:08:00-05:00

Plans for Hungary’s landmark New National Gallery—conceived as the centrepiece of the rising Liget cultural quarter in Budapest’s City Park—hang in the balance after the city’s new centre-left mayor, Gergely Karácsony, moved to block its construction.

After the international design competition for Budapest's New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum resulted in proposals by Snøhetta and SANAA tied for the first prize in April 2015, the latter team, headed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, ultimately won the commission later that year, beating out a star-studded shortlist that also included entries by Jean Nouvel, David Chipperfield, Mecanoo, Renzo Piano, and Nieto Sobejano.

"Construction on the €250m New National Gallery, designed by Japanese architectural firm Sanaa, was due to begin in early 2020 after two years spent refining the designs," reports The Art Newspaper.

Despite its celebrated campus design, Budapest's Central European University faces harsh political resistance

2018-10-23T14:12:00-04:00

Over the last two years, the Central European University (CEU) has been subjected to verbal and thinly-veiled legislative attacks by Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán. [...] Should the university choose to relocate, it would be forced to abandon not only the country it has operated in since opening in 1991, but also its recently opened premises.

CNN Style explains why the celebrated Phase 1 design of the Central European University's deliberately modernist Budapest campus may potentially not be able to save the school's existence in the city.

Photo © Tamás Bujnovszky

Designed by Irish firm O'Donnell + Toumey, the part-new part-refurbished university building, with its nod to transparency and context, is currently one of four shortlistees for the 2018 RIBA International Prize, however tensions have been steadily growing between the administration of populist Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and the institute's founder, Hungarian American billionaire George Soros, a liberal.

Photo © Tamás Bujnovszky

While the school moved to plan a satellite campus in Vienna, the future progress of the Budapest campus development remains in limbo — a scenario of uncertainty for O'Donnell + Toumey. "I don't think you can hold architecture to account in matters of social change," John Tuomey told CNN, "architecture d...

Hyperloop announces plans for first European routes

2016-03-11T13:23:00-05:00

In a joint statement yesterday the Playa Vista, California-based Hyperloop Transport Technologies (HTT) and the Slovak Republic’s economy minister held out the future vision of the Hyperloop whisking passengers at 760 mph between Vienna in Austria, Budapest in Hungary and the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. A Bratislava-to-Vienna route would take just 8 minutes at full speed, while a Bratislava-to-Budapest route would take 10 minutes.

Hyperloop previously in the Archinect news:

Budapest's building boom draws critics of Hungarian leader's "edifice complex"

2016-03-10T13:21:00-05:00

The idea, besides removing as many vestiges of Communist rule as possible, is to create a concrete expression of the nationalism [Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban's] governing party espouses. [...] “These projects, when lumped together, probably constitute the biggest such concentrated architectural project in Budapest in 100 years,” [...] “He is trying to take the existing city and put it back to the shape it had before 1944...The park is a victim of this whole political machinery.”

Learn more about a couple of the controversial projects mentioned:

First glimpse: SANAA wins over Snøhetta for Budapest's new National Gallery + Ludwig Museum

2015-12-01T15:21:00-05:00

SANAA ultimately won the commission to design the new National Gallery and Ludwig Museum in Budapest, currently scheduled to open in summer 2019. The redesigned museum building is part of the larger ambitious Liget Budapest Project that will revamp and expand the city's 200-year-old City Park, or 'Vársoliget'.

First announced in 2014, the project — which claims to be the largest project of its kind in Europe — will add five new museum buildings previously reported at a cost of 75 billion HUF (approx. $268.8 million).

Back in April, SANAA and Snøhetta tied for first prize out of a star-studded shortlist that would've made the commission anyone's game. It included Ateliers Jean Nouvel, David Chipperfield, Mecanoo, Renzo Piano, and Nieto Sobejano.

The competition jury then met with SANAA and Snøhetta and further evaluated each proposal based on "contractual conditions, the quality of co-operation with the Hungarian party, technical content, scheduling, costs,...and economy." The renovated...

Hello Wood's "Project Village" shifts architectural focus from urban to rural

2015-10-07T13:41:00-04:00

What is a village? More importantly, how rapidly can one be formed? The 150 academics, students and practicing architects participating in Project Village set out to answer these questions by constructing an entire community in a week, including a stage, a pub, and a residential building.

Because the team, led by Hello Wood, was assembled from a group of multi-national participants, there was no pre-existing notion of one national architectural heritage. The resulting installations therefore reflected a globalized 21st century cultural context within the sparse infrastructure of a rural setting, and correspondingly referenced issues such as private property, immigration, and multi-faith communities.

Project Village, which debuted in Hungary, is the first stage of a three year process. According to a press release, "During the first phase the creators have established a Village that’s primarily focusing on engaging with communities, generating social interactions and testing it ...

The fascinating DIY architecture of these Hungarian summer houses brings back childhood memories

2015-08-18T12:38:00-04:00

One of the strangest places in Hungary lies beside the Tisza River in a village called Gergelyiugornya. Hugged by a bend in the river, it’s a relatively narrow, woody flood basin area packed with small cottages that show an incredibly wide variety of architectural designs and creativity. [...] Most of these houses were built in the 80s, when the workers of socialist Hungary were allowed to build for themselves on small plots of land.

All photos by Attila Nagy. Head over to Gizmodo to continue the architectural walking tour through Gergelyiugornya village and discover more goodies.

Budapest National Gallery/Ludwig Museum competition: Snøhetta and SANAA tied for 1st prize

2015-04-14T21:29:00-04:00

After a not-so-ideal turnout in its first run in 2014, The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and the Városliget Zrt's Liget Budapest Design Competition 2.0 is a stark contrast! A few months after the architects for three of the development's buildings were announced, Snøhetta and SANAA tied for first prize for Budapest's [...] National Gallery and Ludwig Museum. However, it seems that the ultimate winning proposal is yet to be chosen between the two, after the jury meets with both teams.

Previously:

Three winners, including Sou Fujimoto, are selected for the Liget Budapest museum competition

2014-12-23T22:16:00-05:00

The winning architects for the Liget Budapest museum competition were finally chosen (or at least most of them were).

Liget Budapest -- Hungary's first open, international competition in the past century -- recently announced three winning proposals for three of the four buildings to be built in the historic City Park museum district. After nearly 500 anonymous submissions, the jury selected winning designs for: the Museum of Ethnography; the House of Hungarian Music; and the FotoMuzeum Budapest and the Hungarian House of Architecture. As for the competition's fourth building, the New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum, a winning design has yet to be selected -- if at all.

The winning proposals include:

House of Hungarian Music: Sou Fujimoto Architects (Japan)

Museum of Ethnography: Vallet de Martinis DIID architectes (France)

FotoMuzeum Budapest and the Hungarian Museum of Architecture: Középülettervező Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság (Hungary)

The buildings are expected to begin cons...

Hello Wood to give 5,000 pieces of Christmas Charity Tree firewood to Budapest community

2014-12-22T19:48:00-05:00

Getting caught up in holiday madness has become so normal that it's easy to forget that the holidays can act as a reminder that caring for each other -- no matter how simple the act -- can go a long way. Architecture firm Hello Wood, who built the 11-meter Christmas tree made out of 365 sleighs last year, recently built another Christmas tree installation in Budapest called the Charity Tree.

This time around, Hello Wood worked with Design Terminal and the Hungarian Interchurch Aid to construct the 11-meter Charity Tree, which was built in 5 days from 5,000 pieces of firewood that weigh 150 quintals (or about 30,000 lbs.).

Visitors can also walk inside the tree to find a chapel-like interior space. At night, the tree glows with lighting effects by Philips Hungary.

After the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, all the wood used to make the installation will be given to local families in need. The Charity Tree addresses the issue of the many Hungarian families lacking daily heating d...

New competition launched for National Gallery and Ludwig Museum in Budapest

2014-11-05T13:36:00-05:00

The international jury choosing an architect to design a new National Gallery, which will also provide a new home for the Ludwig Museu in the Hungarian capital, has invited seven leading practices to take part in a new competition after a first competition did not produce a winning design. The seven architects invited to compete for the high-profile commission are: Jean Nouvel, David Chipperfield, Mecanoo, Nieto Sobejano, Renzo Piano, Sanaa and Snøhetta.

Amazing LEGO Creation Breaks World Record in Budapest

2014-05-30T20:50:00-04:00

A new world record was broken just this week in Hungary, Budapest when LEGO architects placed the finishing Rubik's Cube ornament on the top of the massive Lego skyscraper. Reaching 34.76 meters (114 feet), the tower was officially registered with the Guinness book of World Records as well as the LEGO Store in Budapest on May 25.

Hello Wood uses 365 sleighs to build an 11-meter Christmas tree in Budapest

2013-12-11T14:10:00-05:00

The holiday season is in full swing — or sleigh, in this case. Hello Wood, an architecture and design studio, built an 11-meter tall Christmas tree in one week using 365 sleighs in front of the Palace of Arts in Budapest. (Watch the video below.)

After Christmas, the temporary structure will be dismantled and the sleighs will be given to the kids living in the SOS Children’s Village homes in Hungary.

Here are the project details:

"Visitors can step in and have a look at the construction from the inside. The base is made of steel, it weights 4.5 tons, so the construction is perfectly safe from the heavy winds of winter. The four stems of the installation hold 325 kilograms each.

First, the carpenters of Hello Wood made the 10.5 meters tall wooden frame, which was brought to the scene, where it was put together with the help of a crane and the use of welding techniques."

"Then came the alpinists of Hello Wood, who were working on the installation for four consecutive days...

Budapest's "Ruin Bars"

2012-10-17T20:16:00-04:00

... they started opening up in abandoned (but interesting) buildings where nobody wanted to spend the money to restore them to their former glory. Some didn’t have a roof (and still don’t), while others had a big courtyard offering ample space for revelers. Set up a bar, get the toilets working, and you’re set. Eventually some expanded to take over several adjoining buildings. The first ones were a success, others followed, and now they’re a fixture on the nightlife circuit...

ONL completes Central European Time building in Budapest

2012-08-15T17:50:00-04:00

The CET mixed use development in Budapest as designed by the architects of ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd] in Rotterdam has recently been handed over to the City of Budapest.

The CET is the sole building in Budapest that is built directly at the embankments of the Danube river, the terraces separated by a bicycle path only, while elsewhere busy roads disconnect the city from the river.

CET means Central European Time. The City of Budapest has released a contest to find a name for the multifunctional center, which apart from many restaurants and bars also is home to design oriented shops and a large multifunctional event space fit for concerts, congresses and exhibitions. Already over 400 entries are submitted, proving the immense popularity of the design among the inhabitants of Budapest.

The CET connects the old warehouses with the new muscular body. The snout of the glass whale as it often referred to in the press and by the general public juts out over the plaza at the S...

An architect appalled at communism and consumerism alike

2011-10-03T19:27:01-04:00

Visitors to the Hungarian pavilion at the 1992 Seville Expo came in from the searing heat to a cavernous, dark space with a great curving roof like a cathedral. At its centre was a tree, brought from the Hungarian plains, stripped bare and set into a glass floor so that its roots, which stretched as far and wide as its branches, were made visible. It was the work of Hungarian architect Imre Makovecz, who has died aged 75.