D

Building D

TEN Építészműterem Bt.

Lead designer: Zoltán Horváth

Years of design: 2000-2004, year of construction: 2005

Gross area: 5,559 m2

Underground garage: 53 parking spaces

When designing office building D, I took into account the proximity of the Danube and connected the building with the river in its spirituality. The use of materials also refers to navigation, the frigate motif keeps returning on the wooden joists, and the light, Mediterranean character appears in the overall picture of the building.

The Building with its construction design is the link connecting between the modern buildings of Graphisoft Park and the industrial monuments of a Gas Factory, its installation structure follows the Gas Factory buildings. Thus, the tower-like building designed in the longitudinal axis of the park designates and interprets the longitudinal location of the wooded area, at the same time determines the position of the pedestrian path passing through, while also closing it at once. The L-shaped “background building” then further swings the visitor towards the Danube bank. The building, like the turn-of-the-century buildings of the Gas Factory, is tectonic, differing from the park’s previous De Stijl features, while the northwest-facing homogeneous brick-walled wing is adapting to the new incorporation. The floor plan contour of the office building follows the calm, regular shape of the Gas Factory buildings, from which only the mass of the main entrance is, and the north ramp moves out markedly. The use of materials saves bricks and glass from the former stone, glass, brick, plastered wall, and further enriches the stone shell with cladding and wooden structures. The interior of the Gas Factory towers returns in the reinforced concrete cylinder of the hall. The vertical articulation of the facades and the main ledge motif also appear in part. The horizontal division on the façade is also emphasized, as is the hole-like, regular-rhythmic opening of the wall.

At the time of designing the rental space of over 5,000 m2 in the office building, the prospective tenants were still unknown, so the spatial designs and equipment had to be formed in a way that they could later flexibly follow the changing needs. The spatial division of the building, and its manageability as one, was realized through the formulation of the building as two independent masses, where the two wings are separated and connected by a common inner street. The buildings can thus be divided into several units as required. This is made possible by the fact that the smaller “tower building” was designed with two entrances, while the larger L-shaped unit was designed with three entrances. The building with more limited space and a smaller floor area was planned with a cellular space design, while the larger building with connected, large offices. We attempted to separate the applied mechanical solutions - within their reasonable limits - from the spatial layout, leaving a lot of freedom for transformability. That is the reason for the raised floor solution, with the possibility to create connection points anywhere. To replace the surface car parks, we created an open, outdoor, open on the side car park below the ground floor.

Strartup house

Startup house

RADIUS B+S Kft.

Architects: Péter Sugár DLA, Zsuzsa Ilyés-Fekete, Tamás Kun

Year of planning: 2017, year of construction: 2018

Gross area: 3,668 m2

Budapest Építészeti Nívódíja 2018 (Budapest Architecture Award 2018), Az Év Új Ingatlanfejlesztése 2017 (New Real Estate Development of the Year 2017)

The Startup house is located at the intersection of 3 urban axes (Záhony street - Danube shore axis; Gázgyár street). Due to its special position (the visual reference point of the area), it was given a symbolic role: its position required it to be a signature building, to become the gateway to the park.

In the architectural formulation of the building, we sought a balance between INSIDE and OUTSIDE. The internal structural system is also projected onto the adjacent garden, the pavilions in the garden are the external units of the building. Our goal was to blend boundaries, an innovative harmony of technology and nature, which is one of the main messages of Graphisoft Park.

The construction of the building follows the principles of Corbusier (pillar frame, free - flexible - floor plan, strip window - here full glazing -, roof terrace closing level). The facades of the building act as primary communication surfaces. In front of the floor-to-ceiling fully glazed exterior surfaces, another glass lamella façade system mounted on a steel frame runs along the elements parallel with and at an angle to the façade. The outer glass surfaces have been specially treated; the pattern of the screened ornamentation appearing on the lamellas is related to the IT work going on in the Park. On the two-layer glass shell, the lights are constantly changing due to transparency and reflection: the façade looks different at different times of the day, yet, due to the strict construction and cohesive structure, it shows a unified and characteristic overall picture. This constant change also directly reflects the natural environment (trees, wind) and also reflects the proximity of the river.

A

B

C

E – Main cafeteria

G

F

H

M

Building M

Lukács és Vikár Építészstúdió Kft

Lead designers: István Lukács, András Vikár, Gábor Gaschler

Years of design: 2004-2005, year of construction: 2007

Gross area: 11,660 m2

Underground garage: 317 parking spaces

Pro Architectura Díj 2009 (Pro Architectura Award 2009), Fővárosi Építészeti Nívódíj 2009 (Capital Architecture Award 2009)

The buildings that appeared one after the other through the history of Graphisoft Park faithfully reflect the changing customer-tenant needs for different office buildings. While the first buildings contained smaller office units in their floor plans with villa-like masses, the program of houses established later in time needed more and more contiguous office space, and accordingly the appearance of larger masses.

Building M is the manifestation of the tenant's program articulated at Microsoft's Seattle headquarters, where on one extreme there was a need to create thousands of square meters of contiguous office space in one simple column. At the same time, the owner-builder continued to insist on the scales and mass articulation customarily used in the park. To solve this, we have designed an office building where, despite the great depth of the tract, the articulation provides adequate lighting everywhere, and the scale of the appearing masses adapts to the scale of the park.

The other challenge was to house the laboratories of a global chemical company (Servier) in a part of the building where significant building equipment (e.g., extraction for each laboratory) had to be hidden. This has been solved by the suitable design of the roof superstructure. The car parks on the three levels below the ground - in addition to serving the building’s own needs - allow for the hiding of surface car parks under the ground, which was not done with all previous buildings thus endangering the character of the park before. The formulation of the building consciously aims to be in a category between the industrial and the office building, assuming continuity in time with the industrial buildings that once stood at its place.

The doors and windows were extended to the inner plane of the brick, and divided by metal elements placed in the outer plane, which also includes the blinds and glass inserts evoking the ocher and red colors of the environment.

N

S

Building S

Stúdió 100 Architects

Lead designers: László Szász, Erzsébet Hajnády

Year of construction: 2006

Gross area: 24,547 m2

Underground garage: 434 parking spaces

SAP’s new headquarters were built on the then southern border of Graphisoft Park, along the road to the former living quarters of the Gas Factory officers. It is placed so in the vicinity of the main entrance road in the axis of Záhony Street, perpendicular to the Danube, that the green surface remains as wide as possible, therefore it does not impair the visibility of the previously built buildings along the Danube bank.

The investor's need for square meterage far exceeded the usual sizes in the park, so the column-shaped, closed mass required by the rental office function was broken down by geometric cut-outs, scaling the edifice to the park's existing buildings. The material of the façade is a brick cladding with strip windows on the surface of the column, which fits the environment, but differs in shade, with a curtain wall at full height in the cut-outs. The defining function of the building is office, with car and bicycle storage on the basement levels, equipment rooms, a gym, kitchen and staff restaurant, a café and lobby on the ground floor. The retracted contour of the third floor allowed for the creation of the cherished roof terraces, which provide pleasant resting and recreational spaces within the exceptionally beautiful Danube environment.

The building has three levels under the ground, and the parking garage has been scaled well above the needs of the office building to ensure that a significant portion of Graphisoft Park’s parking capacity is located not in the precious surface green, but below ground level. For those who do not work in this building, close to the Park’s center of gravity a staircase-elevator block has been created in a smaller pavilion, through which all three parking levels are accessible. The pavilion also houses a café and a communal lounge.

(Based on the article of the magazine Építészfórum)

U1

U2

U3

U5

U6

Aquincum-Campus

Dormitory

South Park

South Park

RADIUS B+S Kft.

Architect planners: Péter Sugár DLA, Zsuzsa Ilyés-Fekete, Tamás Kun

Year of planning: 2017, year of construction: 2018

Gross area: 31,344 m2

Underground garage: 564 parking spaces

The new buildings are lined up along a pedestrian walkway heading south in front of the Startup House and Building N. The four blocks are connected by wings, community functions (restaurant, receptions, foyers) open under the ground floor passages and arcades. The curved pair of the promenade was built in front of the former Gas Factory official's housings, from where the receptions of the office buildings and the restaurant are also accessible. The two promenades are connected by a system of passages and external spaces running through the center line of the complex. Pedestrian walkways dotted with lined courtyards, attractive paved surfaces and vegetation create an urban space system. By breaking them down into smaller-scale elements, the buildings seek unity with the rest of the Park’s buildings. The color schemes of the black (dark gray) and bright orange surfaces used on the facades bring a fresh, unique and novel character to the Park.

In line with the Client's intention, the planned building complex intends to operate as a new center that will not only attract the current employees of Graphisoft Park but may also become a place of interest for residents and workers in the wider area. The new installation integrates the houses of the former Gas Factory officials, the IBS dormitory and the old protected monument stationhouse in the architectural complex. It creates a harmonious context with the existing buildings, places them in an interpretable construction in the north with the existing buildings of Graphisoft Park, and in the south to the direction of the K-bridge and the Béla Hamvas promenade it creates public-urban architecture relations.

Under the building complex, a three-level underground garage provides parking and allows the surface to remain free of parked cars.

Weighing house

Generator Building

The Generator Building and the Generator

By the beginning of the 18th century, it became clear that the growing demand for gas from the households and the vigorous use of gas by industry meant the full commitment of the capacity of existing gas plants. By 1910, the city’s gas consumption had reached 80 million m3, which could not be provided by air distilleries. The only solution was to build a new gas plant.

By decision of 7 July 1909, the Legislative Committee of the capital authorized the Council to draw up plans for the city gas plant with an independent expert. Thus, the director of the Zurich gas plant, Albert Weiss, was entrusted to draw up general and detailed plans for the new central gas plant. The committee of experts also recommended that Albert Weiss contact Izidor Bernauer, the technical director of the air distillery company, and Győző Schön, the plant engineer, and work with them. The detailed plans were completed by April 1910, which were approved by the Legislative Committee of the Budapest Capital City on May 12, 1910, with a budget of nearly 40 million crowns. Under his authority, the construction of the factory could be started immediately, but by 1913 it had to be ready for operation. For the time being, the plant had to be built with a daily production capacity of 270,000 m3, so that later this capacity could be increased to 1 million m3 per day.

The gas plant’s electricity needs, with the exception of wet scrubber exhaust fans and steam pumps, were met by electric power transmission. The power consumption in the factory, along with the lighting, was significant.

The main switchboard was placed in the electricity center next to the furnace building, where the electricity distribution center was. The high-voltage electricity supplied by Electrical Works was stepped down by transformers.

In the event of an accidental power failure, a 800-horsepower, 4-cylinder diesel engine manufactured at the Láng Machine Factory was set up as a safety reserve, to which the Ganz power generator was directly connected.

Today, the function of the Generator Building has changed. The gigantic diesel engine is an industrial monument, which we are proud to present to those interested, and the Generator Building is home to exciting exhibitions and spectacular events.

Buildings

D