Modernization of the offices in Máriássy House, Budapest

Architecture: Lab5 Architect
Text: Tamás Ulrich
Photos: Zsolt Batár

Built by the capital city, this hall structure was completed in 1927 to function as a calf market. The fate of the market hall took several turns since then, having not only various functions but new owners as well. WING Zrt. specialized in projects and estate development purchased the site in 2004 with the intention to move its headquarters here. As a result, the structure was converted into a spacious office block surrounded with a wellorganised neighborhood. Fourteen years had passed by the time the owner asked LAB5 architects to refresh the interior architecture of the hall as meanwhile it was not only the trends in interior design that changed but also the nature of office work underwent some radical changes. Communal spaces gained significance, with emphasis on small single or double offices, the visual articulation of the interiors, the transitory work stations and ancillary service zones. The space which had always been elegant from the beginning regarding its primary faculties, is now reborn as a contemporary second-generation office block which still has preserved its former advantages.

General design: Lab5 Architects
Designers: Linda Erdélyi, András Dobos, Balázs Korényi, Virág Anna Gáspár, Rebeka Sipos, Annamária Tóth
Client: Wing Zrt.