The best-known fine dining Italian restaurant in Budapest has moved into a low key, elegant building, which replaced the architectural chaos that had prevailed on the site for decades.
Architect: TIMA Zoltán
The plot of the restaurant was developed on the border of the Buda villa district in the 1910s and it has accommodated a restaurant ever since. In the 1990s, legendary restaurant of the neighbourhood and the era, the Lugas operated here, which gradually lost its appeal and closed in the early 2020s. The original, century-old, mansard-roofed building was almost completely transformed and swallowed by the catering function over the decades, taking up more and more space of the plot. As a result of the additions, extensions and transformations, the former facade and spatial structure disappeared. Before the proposed new transformation, the architectural chaos that had developed on the plot had to be eliminated, and the old extensions and ancillary structures had to be demolished.
The proposed building was moved back behind the building line according to the valid building regulations, extended by one floor upwards, and a basement was built under the southwest part. Functionally, the building can be divided into two parts. The restaurant and its service areas are located on the ground floor, while there are two apartments on the first floor. There is a guest entrance and a separate service entrance, both opening from Szilágyi Erzsébet Avenue. Parking space for three cars is provided near the service entrance gate. On the ground floor, the southwest side of the building is the restaurant, with a large, glazed opening overlooking the garden. The outdoor terrace is directly connected to this, shaded by a pergola. The intimacy of the terrace is ensured by a screen of flowering plants towards the street. The restaurant has male and female toilet blocks. The kitchen and its service areas are located in the rear part of the ground floor. The restaurant guests can continuously follow the chefs’ work through a long window. A wine cellar with a wine safe has been created in the basement, accessed by a staircase in the southern corner of the building. The staircase leads to the two apartments on the first floor and to the mechanical area above the kitchen as well. In addition to the main entrance of the restaurant, the apartments can also be accessed through a side entrance. Most of the undeveloped area of the plot has become a garden covered with vegetation.
The building is two-story high, with a basement on the southwest side, a flat roof, in-situ reinforced concrete frame and box supporting structures. The original brick walls have been preserved on the northwest and northeast sides of the building, reinforced with in-situ r.c. pillars. The building is characterized by low key simplicity. It combines the various functions in a single volume, the divisions and emphasis are created by the alternated use of the facade materials. The restaurant opens towards the garden and the street with a large, wide, glazed curtain wall. A canopy extends above the southwest-oriented opening, which is complemented by a pergola above the terrace. The staircase stands out with its characteristic planted wall, creepers run on steel wires stretched in front of the facade. This facade also accommodates the restaurant’s logo. The mechanical room on the first floor has large-panel fiber cement cladding, which is suitable for integrating the louvered openings required for the machines. In front of the facade of the apartments, at the western and eastern corners on the first floor, louvered aluminum shading structures have been placed, which separate the private sphere of the apartments and the public area on the ground floor, forming an openwork second layer of the facade. Behind the louvres, glazing unites the opened and solid surfaces of the facade.
Location: Budapest II. Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor 77. Built: 2024 Architect: TIMA Zoltán Associate architect: SZABÓ Máté Structural engineer: DOBRÁTER Béla (Dobráter Bt.) HVAC engineers: SZAKÁL Szilárd, RÉTI János, LENGYEL Zsolt, VIRÁG Zoltán (Duoplan Kft.) Electrical engineers: MÁRAMAROSI András, RITZL András, KAPITOR György (Zone-plan Kft.) Kitchen technology: PALAINÉ STRAUB Ágnes (Szigmavill Bt.) Interior architect: SÜTŐ Kata (KTST Interiors Kft.) Landscape architect: MOHÁCSI Sándor (S73 Kft.) Area: 235 m2
