Architects: FARKAS Dániel, TASCH Péter
The reconstruction of the almost hundred year old building, a protected element of the cityscape, resulted in an up-to-date, high-standard office building, where the preserved and refurbished old rooms and architectural details have been well integrated into the rebuilt new areas, which meet the requirements of today and the new technologies.
The head office building of ÁB-Aegon (now Aegon Magyarország) on Kálvin Square was originally built in 1912–1913, designed by architect dr. Dezső Hültl. The building had been refurbished inside and outside several times during the past 85 years, but a full-scale reconstruction became inevitable in order to meet the new requirements of the insurance company.
Earlier, the building had been partly used as a residential building, therefore the interior access routes of the apartments had to be demolished in order to convert them into offices. A new main entrance has been created to access the office building from Kálvin Square, protected by a tempered glass canopy. The entrance leads to the reception desk and to the four new elevators which are the main components of the building’s access route system. The apartments on the upper floors have been demolished and converted into modern offices complete with meeting rooms and service rooms. Among the preserved and refurbished parts of the building, the original ornate staircases, the historic rooms on the fourth floor with wainscoting, inlaid parquet floors and decorative plasterwork; as well as an old Haverland elevator with wooden panelling have to be mentioned. An auditorium with 140 seats has been built in the basement, but the glass-roofed aula on the ground floor can also be used as the venue of occasional events. On the topmost sixth floor, the attic was demolished and converted into a kitchen and a self-service restaurant, with a great view to the city through a new arched window. Service traffic uses the entrance from Rádai Street, equipped with a large freight elevator.
The facades of the building has got new plaster and paint finish. They are decorated with renovated cornices, friezes, balustrades, different ornamental sculptures and wrought iron balcony railings. There are portals of aluminium structure on the ground floor and modern timber-frame windows manufactured similar to the old ones on the upper floors. There are dark coloured slates on the pitched roof.
The reconstructed building was awarded the special prize of the Hungarian Real Estate Association in 2000 and a FIABCI Prize in 2001.
Location: Budapest IX. Üllői út 1. Built: 1998 Architects: FARKAS Dániel, TASCH Péter Interior architect: CGT Design Studió Area: 11.400 m2
