Sisters of the Cross Centre, Budapest

Architects: Katalin Csillag, Zsolt Gunther
Text: Eszter Götz
Photos: Tamás Bujnovszky

In Buda’s Városmajor Street, this extraordinary building has stood on this site since 1847, its neo-Gothic style shining out from the streetscape of today. It was used as a residential building until 1994, when it became the property of the Franciscan order of the Sisters of the Cross. The plans for both the conversion and extension were drawn up by architects Katalin Csillag and Zsolt Gunther, who followed the logic of the original U-shaped extension and designed two new wings, which were given a sculptural, contemporary appearance. The building has been stripped of its former yellow render and given a subtle pale grey façade, with the lining of the arches and the plasticity of the deeper surfaces accentuated with white paint. On entering, the entirety of the whole composition is revealed: the old wings, plastered in a greenish shade of grey, encircling the courtyard on two sides, and the two snow-white blocks continuing the stems of the U-shape. The contours of the new wings are blurred, the old and new wall and roof surfaces are continuations of each other, but the sculptural quality of the sloping façade, broken in several planes on the north side, and the sculptural quality of the wall, which is made of the same material as the roof, continuing the roof shape without cornice on the southern side, create a quiet, meditative atmosphere. In both parts of the building, the façades are broken by simple, French-arched openings with glass parapets: the one-storey wing to the south has 6 rooms for the sisters, while the three-storey wing to the north contains offices and guest rooms. Between the two, a rose-framed staircase leads up to the garden on the higher ground.

Leading architects: Katalin Csillag, Zsolt Gunther
Project architect: Tamás Békesi
Fellow architects: Veronika Novák, András Márk Bartha, Júlia Boromissza, Tamás Butora, Tamás Csépke, Dorottya Garay-Kiss, János Gyuricza, Anna Sára Kiss, Marianne Mokos, Zsolt Péteri, Sándor Sebestyén, Annamária Tóth
Structure: Dezső Hegyi Dr – Hegy-Ék Ltd.
HVAC: Tamás Oltvai – Art-Tax
Electrical engineering: Ferenc Kelemen – Kelevill-FZ
Landscape: Enikő Kapás – Departer Engineers
Fire protection: Béla Nagy – Flamma Contra
Building construction: Gergely Sipos – ARKKITEHTI
Historical monument expert: Márta Branczik – Modern Építészetért Ltd.
Client: Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross, Province of Central Europe