The Conversion of Mende Villa, Budapest

Architects: Béla Málnai (1931), Csaba Kovács (2014)
Text: Marianna Berényi
Photos: Tamás Bujnovszky

Built in the 1930s, the villa rated as a progressive one compared to its contemporary resort homes in the Baroque or Revivalist Classicist style. It was composed in the register of Modernist architecture with its flat roof, a mass interacting three main cubes, a lightly curved porch evoking Giorgio de Chirico’s arcades in his Surrealistic, metaphysical paintings in the 1910s. It was also a sign proving that besides the Bauhaus Italian Modernism also influenced Hungarian architecture which was trying to find its own way right then. Although it represented significant architectural values, it is not a protected historic monument, which means that the client family and the designers had the chance to decide to what extent they take into consideration the original features of the building. Thanks to this, the resort house did not have to undergo an overall conversion but was revived by using the most modern technologies. As a result, now it is a high-quality residential building meeting all the needs and requirements of a family with three children which preserved its original mass and forms on the street facade. The villa has new functions and spaces without compromising its iconic architectural composition, and it was even further enriched with new qualities on the roof level and the back garden.

Architecture: NARTARCHITECTS
Leading architect and interiors: Csaba Kovács
Fellow architects: István Bartha, Gergő Molnárka, Eszter Gyuris
Fellows in interior design: László Vitáris, Eszter Gyuris
Structure: Balázs Puskás
HVAC: László Temesvári
Electrical engineering: Ferenc Rajkai