The Renewed Carmelite Complex

Architects: Gábor Zoboki, Csaba Silvester
Text: Miklós Sulyok
Photos: Tamás Réthey-Prikkel

This task may have been the most difficult one for design in the past few decades in Hungarian architecture with which Gábor Zoboki was commissioned: he had to design the new headquarters of the Ministers in the Castle District by integrating a new and an old structure. The challenge resulted from the historic and symbolic significance of the remodelled building, the former monastery matched by the design task, which is just as significant: the architectural creation of the headquarters of the Hungarian government. The structure of the 18th-century building left hardly any leeway for the architects. A characteristic example illustrating it is that the study of the Prime Minister was created by integrating two former cells of friars and a small section of the hallway. The conference rooms are results of the integration of the former refectory of the friars and the space above it with an identical floor plan. Zoboki and his fellow architects joined the historic monastery building and two new components: a representative balcony on the facade facing the river Danube, and another balcony with a similar design on the northern front of the courtyard. The new building, the office block of the Ministers is an architecturally convincing project viewed as a whole and in details as well. Its mass formation is a solution to a seemingly impossible issue: it is both eternal, timeless and modern, articulated and block-like, elegant without being pompous. The roofed courtyard with a wrap-around gallery features a spectacularly modern staircase designed by Zoboki with sculpturesque forms and high standards. As an exciting and powerful gesture, the entrance is integrated into the southern lateral facade with a design evoking a modern curtain wall which lends a gently contemporary character to the house with a conservative overall appearance.

General design: ZDA-Zoboki Építésziroda
Chief architect: Gábor Zoboki
Project lead architect: Csaba Silvester
Lead architects: András Csiszér (new office building), Béla Reppert (monument building)
Architects: Endre Finta, Péter Lasztóczi, András Somogyi, Attila Fekete, Gerda Sztankó, Pál Rutkai, Eszter Kovács, Lilla Scheibl, Vision Építésziroda, Tripartitum Építész Műhely
Interior design: Balázs Szlabey – Zda-Zoboki Építésziroda
Interiors of the new office building: Krisztina Sárosdi-Mádi, Patrik Pallai – MádiLáncos Stúdió
Interiors of the monument building upon the commission of the Prime Ministership: Márta Dragonits lead architect, Gábor Kruppa, Tamás Butora, Réka Czina, Júlia Furmannné Horváth, Blanka Klenk
Structure: Gábor Földvári, Ferenc Kamarás – Földvári Mérnökiroda Kft.
HVAC: László Kolarovszky, Tibor Gáspár, Dávid Balogh – Körös Consult Kft.
Electrical engineering: Ferenc Rajkai, István Pataki – HungaroProject Mérnökiroda Kft.
Environment: János Hómann, Máté Pécsi – Objekt tájépítészet
Frameworks: Rita Pataky – Pataky és Horváth Építésziroda
Acoustics: Éva Arató – Arató Akusztika Kft.
Fire protection: György Báder – BNN Biztonságtechnika Kft.
Public utilities: Mária Gárdonyiné Kormos – Körkép Kft.
Traffic: ProUrbe Kft.
Project management, technical supervision: ÉMI Nonprofit Kft, Lajos Frey