BKK Metro4 Depot Kelenföld

Architects: Tamás Pintér, Miklós Dombi, Tamás Kéner, Péter Kovács, Zsuzsanna Lefkánics
Text: Krisztina Somogyi
Photos: Tibor Zsitva

An elegant tower appeared in Kelenföld – which passers-by would probably rate as a first-class office block –, where the neighbourhood of the railway station suggests a dynamically developing zone. Stepping out from underground line No. 4 this progress is not visible yet. The depot in Kelenföld is a unique-design tower structure which confidently lifts its head up from amongst the uncertain contours of P+R car parks, MÁV railway premises, bus terminals and housing estates that surround it. Opened in 2013, this building towers above an environment with an identity still taking shape, but may also be perceived as if the designer had meant it to be part of a larger scale order. The DPi designers had a different formula in mind: starting from the prototypes of industrial architecture they deliberately used components typical of office architecture to have an integral response. The success of the concept results from the fact that every component was taken care of with due attention to details, and the buildings are articulated in an integral visual language. Their belongingness is not only expressed in the dark grey metal cladding of the facades and decisions concerning forms and design, but in the spectacular logic reflected in the organisation of the intermediary spaces. The plant does not fall into elements but lives in a system of correlations.

Architecture: DPi design Kft.
Architects: Tamás Pintér, Miklós Dombi, Tamás Kéner, Péter Kovács, Zsuzsanna Lefkánics
Landscape: Dr. Péter István Balogh – S73 Kft.
Experts: Balázs Goda, László Kovács, Norbert Pilz, Károly Rödönyi – Főmterv Zrt.