Architect: HORVÁTH Lajos
The office building occupies a significant place in the cityscape, so the architect intended to emphasize continuity in the design of the building, combining tradition with modernity. The high-tech elements of the building, such as the panoramic elevators, the multi-storey glass bridge and the internal roof garden promote the integration of local values.
The building is located close to the Danube, opposite to Margaret Island on the Buda side. It is already visible from Margaret Bridge. If one arrives from the city centre to the junction of Lajos Street and Árpád fejedelem Road, the building appears as a kind of southern gate of the quarter of Óbuda. Enclosed blocks with inner courtyards are typical of the neighbourhood, but the facade of the office building is opened on the southern side, above the main entrance located in Dara Street, by a 16 metre wide, multi-storeyed glass bridge, so the interior spaces are brought into visual contact with the nice panorama, increasing the value of the office spaces. The building height has been adjusted to the fire wall of the neighbouring school building, constructed in 1911. There is a half gabled roof along the external facade of the building, matching the size and appearance of the buildings along the Danube and on Zsigmond Square.
Access for the basement parking areas and for service traffic from Lajos Street is provided through a ramp built along the fire wall; the exit ramp arrives at Árpád fejedelem Road. The building consists of a ground floor and five office floors, an attic and three basement floors for parking. Besides the lobby and the reception, there are various shops and a nice snack bar for the employees on the ground floor. The flexible layout of the upper floors is arranged around a central courtyard; there are leased offices of various companies here with different requirements for the character of their premises. As the tenants are changing continuously, only the staircases, the elevators and the toilet blocks have fixed places, the office areas can be rearranged according to the actual tenant’s requirements, using mounted solid or glazed partition wall elements. The inner courtyard has been built as a roof-garden above the ground floor, with decorative landscaping. A part of the attic accommodates the mechanical rooms under the pitch roof, more offices are located in the other part.
The building has been built with in-situ reinforced concrete structure; the architecture of the brick-clad facades is in harmony with the surroundings, the high-tech elements reflect the world of the turn of the millennium. It won the best office building category of the Property Award in 2002 and it got the Pro Architectura award in 2003.
Location: Budapest II., Árpád fejedelem útja 26–28. Built: 2001 Architect: HORVÁTH Lajos Associate architects: MOLNÁR Tibor, LADICS Ilona, RADVÁNYI Katalin Interior architect: SCHINAGL Gábor Area: 25.150 m2
