Living in an Amphitheatre
Felvinci Mansion Park, Budapest
Architect: Csaba Virág
Text: Eszter Götz
Photos: Tibor Zsitva
Rózsadomb (“Rose Hill”), which had once been a vineyard, was developed in the 1920s and 30s as the wealthy middle-class families had their mansions built here. Besides these villas, prism-form condos featuring 6-9 apartments with terraces dominate the slopes of the hill with their rather low-standard exteriors. Csaba Virág designed the four buildings of Felvinci Villapark in this context on a site with highly disadvantageous faculties. The shift between the levels of the two longitudinal borders of the lot exceeds 25 metres. The designer discovered the potentials of the site and thus integrated the four structures whilst restoring the original slope by offering to heal the scars of the hillside. The essence of this scheme is that each house faces south to embrace the amphitheatre-like slope in a gentle semi-circle. Thus the most comprehensive view of the city was revealed. The arch defined by the row of three-storey buildings topped with penthouses does not interfere with the views from the residential building sin the neighbourhood. As a result, an exceptional harmony of forms integrating the landscape and the buildings was created.
Architect: Csaba Virág
Fellow architects: Zoltán Fehér, Sándor Göcsei, Ilona Karácsony, Zsófia Asbóth
Structure: Ferenc Soós
Electrical engineering: Ferenc Kelemen
HVAC: József Wohner
Garden: Gábor Karádi
Soil mechanics: Gábor Szolnoki