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Project Portfolio – January 2006

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ING Head Offices, Budapest

Budapest, Hungary
Erick van Egeraat associated architects

Erick van Egeraat provides a shot of architectural adrenaline to a staid streetscape with his Ing head offices building in Budapest

	Photo © Christian Richters

By Tracy Metz

Hungarians talk about “the changes,” a blanket term covering both the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 and the country’s entry into the European Union in 2004, but admit little has changed in terms of Budapest’s architecture. “Socialism still has a strong grip on our minds,” said a young Hungarian late one night at one of the clandestine cafés that pop up unpredictably at changing locations in the city’s many interior courtyards. “Our buildings are still mediocre.” Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat, though, is shaking things up with projects such as the ING Head Offices on Dózsa György Street, commissioned by the real estate arm of ING, the large Dutch financial services company.

Van Egeraat, who had been a principal at the firm Mecanoo, now heads Erick van Egeraat Associated Architects (EEA), with offices in Rotterdam, London, Prague, Budapest, and Moscow, an arrangement that keeps him on the road 200 nights a year, he claims.

The ING project, a multitenant office building that addresses the street with a hyperkinetic facade, makes a striking addition to Budapest, with its tradition of solid, even stolid architecture. Located near landmarks such as the municipal museum, Városliget City Park, and the vast and empty Square of Heroes, the building sits around the corner from the increasingly cosmopolitan Andrassy Boulevard (home of Budapest’s only Apple store). The building’s expressive exterior has already become a symbol of a new era in the city’s architecture. For the developer, the project turned out to be a very good deal: A day after taking possession, ING sold it to Deutsche Bank for a serious profit.

The 270,000-square-foot building, which sits above three levels of underground parking, accommodates public functions on the ground floor, such as a bank and a restaurant, with six floors of office space above (including EEA’s Budapest branch), and a penthouse boardroom. It replaces two Stalinist-style office blocks from the 1950s and is bordered on one side by a Modernist box in the best Communist tradition (which EEA had renovated earlier), and on the other by a 19th-century villa: “It was my intention to bring cohesion to the street without copying the past,” explains van Egeraat. The new building increases in height as it makes the transition from the older villa to the much larger Communist box. Across the entire length of the facade, van Egeraat floated shiny steel ribbons, vestiges of the flowing lines he drew in one of his very first sketches to indicate the continuity of time symbolized by these three buildings.

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the People

Owner
ING Real Estate Hungary Development Ltd.
András Elekes

Architect
Erick van Egeraat associated architects (EEA) www.eea-architects.com

EEA Rotterdam
Erick van Egeraat associated architects
Calandstraat 23, 3016 CA Rotterdam
Hollandia
Tel: 31 10 436 9686
Fax: 31 10 436 9583
e-mail: eea@eea-architects.com

EEA Budapest
Erick van Egeraat associated architects
1068 Budapest, Dózsa György út 84/c
Tel: 36 1 321 6831
Fax: 36 1 321 6832
e-mail: eea.hu@eea-architects.com

EEA Prague
Erick van Egeraat associated architects
Masarykovo Nabrezi 22
11000 Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: 420 2 2493 0045
Fax. 420 2 2493 3769
e-mail: eea.cz@eea-architects.com

Architects:
Erick van Egeraat, János Tiba, Judit Z. Halmágyi, Eszter Bódi

Project team:
Zita Balajti, Zsófia Bálint, Balázs Beczner, Ágnes Benkö, Gabriella Grand, Zsófia Gutvill, Zoltán Gyüre, Sándor Kogan-Szabó, Darko Kovacev, Áron Láncos, Michael Rushe

Contributors:
Claire Booth, Péter Földi, Ákos Ginder,
Michael Guzy, Zoltán Király, Bettina Molnár, Pablo Urango, Gaston Zahr,
Rachel Flint-Suliman, Fabien Leblanc,
Napsugár Linnert, Sandra Mena Suso,
Taly Wolfling

Authorising architect:
Dr. Attila Komjáthy

Interior:
Zoltán Gyüre, Zsófia Gutvill, Zsófia Bálint, Balázs Beczner

Renderings:
DPI Design, Budapest
Tamás Pintér, Miklós Dombi, Tamás Kéner, Péter Kovács

Engineer(s)
Structural engineering:
MTM Structural Engineering Office ltd., Budapest
- Designer: Péter Markovits
- Contributors of structure eng.: Pál Bécser, Róbert Kazsimérszky, Timea Matúz, Péter Nagy, János Richter

Mechanical and electrical service
engineering:
SMG-SISU Budapest Engineering Consulting ltd.,
Budapest, Hungary
- Project engineer: Gábor Szigyártó
- Mechanical service engeneers: Frans van Dommelen, György Pernyész, Katalin Abonyi, László Benes, Szabolcs Kiss
- Electrical service engineers: Lukács Gombás, László Csányi

Quantity surveying:
MDA (Central Europe) ltd., Budapest, Hungary
Stephen Burchett

Project management:
MDA Budapest Kft, Budapest, Hungary
József Keresztély

Consultant(s)
Building Services:
OPTIMAL H.V.A.C. Design and Installation, Technical Facility
Management, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Bucharest

Electrical works:
Elektro Profi Contracting ltd., Budapest, Hungary

Light consultant:
ERCO Lighting Hungary, Budapest, Hungary www.erco.com

General Contractor
Csarnok 2002 Kkt., Budapest, Hungary
Magyar Építö Rt., Budapest, Hungary
Bendegúz Szász
Hérosz Rt., Budapest, Hungary
János Falvai

Photographer
TK

the Products

Exterior Cladding
Concrete structure:
Épszerk-Pannónia Kft., Budapest, Hungary

Facade stone cladding:
Renaissance Plc., Üröm, Hungary

Glass & aluminium façade cladding: Alukol Kft. www.alukol.hu, Szászhalombatta, Hungary in
co-operation with MetalCAD Kft., Budapest, Hungary

Atrium glass wall and roof:
Helmut Fisher Gmbh, specialised in glass and steel construction;
Talheim, Germany

RFR, Paris, France www.rfr.fr

Stainless steel decoration ribbons
on facade:
Határ-T Plusz Kft., Budapest, Hungary, in co-operation with System Steel Kft. www.systeel.hu

Interior Finishes
Metal ceiling:
BRAKEL Hungary Kft., Budapest, Hungary

Internal glass façade:
Havasi Kft. - Miskolc, Hungary www.havasiiroda.fw.hu

Custom-made glass constructions:
Kupa Glass ltd., Szentendre, Hungary
www.kupainc.com

Decorative wall painting:
Lotz Stúdió Kft., Budapest, Hungary

Furnishings
Fitted furniture:
Full Kft., Budapest, Hungary

Custom made executive furniture:
Vitra International AG www.vitra.com

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