Budapest’s HOUSE OF TERROR VILLA BARABÁS Architects: A. F. Kovács, J. Sándor, K. Újszászy 6 Completed: 2002 Architects: Péter Basa, Borbála Parizán, new beauties Address: Andrássy út 60 (6th district) 15 Adám Reisz Completed: 2003 Emiel Lamers has selected 25 discreet but remarkable contributions Address: Városmajor utca 44 (12th district) to the Hungarian capital’s fabric by a new generation of architects. SHOPPING CENTRE Architects: György Fazakas and Paul Viguier HUNGARY — TEXT: EMIEL LAMERS, ILLUSTRATION: MENNO WITTEBROOD 1 Completion: 2007-2008 Address: Vörösmarty tér (5th district) PALACE OF THE ARTS utside Hungary, late twentieth-century Hungarian the glazed roof of the Gödör Klub (3). In 1998 construction ing of the display cases where all the hinges and fixings have Architects: Zoboki, Demeter and associates architecture is known chiefly for the organic works began on this site for a new National Theatre to a futuristic been carefully hidden from view. 11 Completed: 2005 O of Imre Makovecz and his followers. This idiosyn- design by Ferenc Bán. When the Fidesz party assumed power, Past Oktogon Square, on the left side of Andrássy út, stands Address: Komor Marcell utca 1 cratic style was pushed into the background by the political the plan was cancelled and a design competition for a club the controversial House of Terror (6). For twelve years its cel- and economic changes of 1990. In no time at all it seemed, big, to fill the already excavated pit was won by a group of young lars were used as a prison, first by the Nazis in 1944-1945 and SCANDESIGN SHOWROOM bland shopping centres were popping up all over the capital, architects. A new National Theatre was eventually built at the subsequently by the communist state security police. In sunny Architects: Éva Gáspár while vacant sites along the city’s motorways were colonized so-called Millennium Centre on the Danube, but to a neo-clas- weather, the word ‘terror’ is projected onto the facade via cut- 16 Completed: 2006 by the familiar corrugated iron boxes housing international sic design by Mária Siklós. outs in the deep steel awning. The slow descent by lift to the Address: Trombitás utca 11 (2nd district) retail chain stores. As a rule there was little time and concern From the Gödör Klub we walk along the tree-lined Andrássy torture chambers is an experience in its own right. CHRISTIAN RICHTERS for the quality of the architecture, let alone innovation. út. Number 9 was once the headquarters of ING Bank and The journey to the next building on the itinerary can be Recent years have seen an interesting development in the Nationale Nederlanden (4). The conversion and extension pursued underground by means of the 111-year-old, superbly KARTELL SHOP A38 field of architecture, this time of a more modest, retiring char- of the 1883 Brull Palace by EEA architects dates from 1994 refurbished metro line. Exit at Hõsök tere (Heroes Square) Architects: Dóm Architecture Studio Architects: Balázs Deák, Miklós Miltenberg- 2 Completed: 2000 12 er-Miltényi, László Váncza (VM Mûvek) acter. Scattered here and there around the city are renovation but it is still one of the most progressive designs in the capital. and there on your right you will see the prestigious new ING Address: Sas utca 2 (5th district) Completed: 2003 and new-build projects that put Budapest on the architectural Sadly, the whale-shaped conference room on the glass roof Bank headquarters (7). The curved metal lines running Address: Petõfi bridge, Buda side map of the 21st century. No high-rise projects, which are still of the atrium is not open to visitors. But it’s worth walking horizontally across the backward-leaning vertical facade are CHRISTIAN RICHTERS not permissible under current building regulations, but mostly around the corner to number 12 Paula Ede utca, from where intended by architect Erick van Egeraat to set up a relation ING HEADQUARTERS small-scale interventions tucked away in the city’s various dis- the canted rear elevation can be seen. Back on Andrássy út and with the adjacent former trade union building, which was Architects: EEA Erick van Egeraat tricts. The search for this new generation of buildings begins opposite Miklós Ybl’s 1884 National Opera at number 27, is also built by his firm. On the north-east side of the city park, 7 associated architects Completed: 2005 on Vörösmarty Square in the centre of the Pest district. In the Caprice Jewellers (5). The oak and imitation leather interior in the leafy suburb of Zugló, stands the Snooker Centre (8) Address: Dözsa György út 84/b (6th district) GIORGIO DE BUONO / JÁNOS SZENTIVÁNI very first issue of A10, I wrote about a shopping centre (1) was designed by minusplus with great attention to the detail- (see A10 #9). There was no money for doing up the exterior HEGYHÁT HOUSE that was to be built here. Since then, the 1960s building has and the budget for the interior was far from generous, but the Architects: Dóm Architecture Studio been demolished and work has commenced on the renovation architects still managed to create a good-looking, chic interior. 17 Completed: 2000 Scattered here and Address: Normafa, Hegyhát utca 21 of the ‘Vigado’ building behind. The mock-up on the corner of As in the Caprice shop, the painted walls were decorated using (7th district) the building site already offers a foretaste of what the com- there around the city are an old-fashioned roller stencil. Above the snooker tables hang plex’s diamond-shaped glass facade will look like. luminaires made from orange sun blind material, designed GÖDÖR KLUB A stroll through the recently spruced-up park on Erzebeth renovation and new-build especially for this project. Architects: Firka Építész Stúdió Square brings us to the corner of Sas utca and the Kartell shop 3 Completed: 2002 (2). The interior design by Dóm architects is an interplay of projects that put Budapest From garden café to No House Address: Erzsébet tér (5th district) light, shadow and reflection in which the detailing is as airily A fascinating phenomenon that is particularly evident in GÁBOR MÁTÉ designed as the plastic furniture on display here. At one end on the architectural map the 7th and 8th districts is that of the temporary open-air SNOOKER CENTRE of Erzsébeth Square is a shallow pool that is simultaneously cafés – dilapidated courtyards that have been turned into Architects: GEON Építésztúdió Kft. of the 21st century. 8 Completed: 2006 attractive garden cafés with a minimum of means. The oldest Address: Szugló utca 65 (14th district) „24 (2001) and best known is the Szimpa kert (garden) at number 22 23 14 Kazinczy utca. MILLENÁRIS PARK Architects: Ujirany ZSOLT BATÁR At the end of the vast swathe of cleared land behind the Completed: 2001 13 BUDAÖRS TOWN HALL Corvin cinema (the future site of the Corvin shopping prom- Address: Kis Rókus utca (2nd district) enade) is the new, temporary location of the fashionable Nagy Architects: Lászlo Kalmár, Zsolt Zsuffa „25 18 Completed: 2005 West-Balkán club (9). In a garden decked out with coloured Address: Szabadság ú 134, Budaörs lighting, sculptures and a projection screen, stands a little building made of polycarbonate sheeting; from here a short 21 16 13,14 tunnel of the same material delivers you into an unexpectedly 6 7 8 big covered courtyard where there are often shows in the eve- CHRISTIAN RICHTERS 15 nings. A contemporary arts centre is located on the upper floor ING BANK & NN 1–5 Pest HEADQUARTERS 17 NAGY WEST BALKÁN Buda of the same complex. On the other side of the busy Üllõï út is Architects: EEA Erick van Egeraat 4 Architects: Gábor Arató the Holocaust Memorial Centre (10), built in 2002. The associated architects Completed: 2006 Completed: 1994 9 9 eight-metre-high walls surrounding a courtyard are engraved Address: Futó utca 48 (8th district) with names of the 600,000 Hungarian-Jewish victims of the Address: Andrássy út 9 (6th district) 10 Second World War. The museum itself is below ground level Budaörs 12 11 and takes the form of an affecting promenade that ends in the 18,19 restored synagogue. ZSOLT BATÁR The new Millennium Centre beside the Danube is also worth a visit, if only because of the enormous scale. Hungar- ian/Canadian developers Trigránit are building a lot of offices and high-end apartments here. Close to the bridge stands the Palace of the Arts (11) (see A10 #6). Given this project’s high aspirations, the finished facade is a bit of a disappointment, but inside the architects pulled out all the stops in terms of ZSOLT BATÁR Danube GLASS CONCRETE PAVILION PÁDÁR HOUSE design and materials. The bookshop boasts an interesting col- HOLOCAUST CAPRICE JEWELLERS MEMORIAL CENTRE Architect: Zsuzsanna Fekete Architects: Lászlo Kalmár, Zsolt Zsuffa lection of art and architecture books! Completed: 2005 Completed: 2005 Architects: minusplus_architects Architects: István Mányi, Attila Gáti 14 19 10 Address: Kis Rókus utca (2nd district) Address: Széchenyi utca / Zichy Péter utca On the other side of the Danube, close to the Petõfi Bridge, Completed: 2006 Completed: 2004 5 29, Budaörs 20‚ is a 1960s Ukrainian cargo boat that has been moored ‡ Address: Andrássy út 27 (6th district) Address: Páva utca 39 (9th district) 64 A10 #13 Eurovision Eurovision A10 #13 65 OFFICE BUILDING ATTILA POLGÁR Architects: sporaarchitects ÜRÖM HOUSE 22 Completed: 2006 Address: Szentendrei út 141 (3rd district) Architect: Építészlabor (Gábor Sajtos) 24 Completed: 2004 Address: Üröm, Huszár utca (north of Budapest) PÉTER RÁKOSI BLACK HOUSE Architects: MCXVI Architects, Gábor Szokolyai 20 Completed: 2005 Address: Pogány utca 11, Budafok (22nd district) BOOK-KEEPERS HOUSE MEO MUSEUM LOOKOUT TOWER Architects: Bodey + Polgar építész muhely Architects: Inarchi építésziroda Architects: Péter Basa, Péter Czér 21 Completed: 2006 23 Completed: 2001 25 Completed: 2005 Address: Gyöngyvér utca 99 (2nd district) Address: Újpest József Attila utca 4-6 Address: Nagy Kopasz Hegy (4th district) (west of Budapest) (Budapest’s new beauties) here since April 2003.