Margit Kilenc Communal Space, Budapest

Építészek: Nándor Nagy, Andrea Szakál, Ferenc Szakál
Szöveg: Anna Zöldi
Fotók: Tibor Zsitva

Ruin, garden, community, Rózsadomb, families changing their lifestyles for the organic one and the proximity of downtown Buda: these concepts were the starting points for young designers from Blokk Műhely („Block Workshop”) to create that of a communal sale and shopping area which may be the venue of a garden ruin pub and Saturday morning shopping as well, what’s even more, it can simultaneously fulfill both functions. In Margit Kilencben (Margaret Nine) local farmers, cheesemakers, herb and spices sellers offer their special products but one can sit in here for a Turkish-style coffee or handicraft beer at any time of the day. The massive wooden gate is open all day long. Behind it the shop and the water areas are housed in one of the two street-front building parts whilst the other is a room suited to events. The latter has walls from three sides and may be converted for winter use, but of course not in the usual representative form: it has exposed RC walls, wooden benches and glass chandeliers, with a frottage pattern pressed into the smoothed concrete here and there and a sizeable oven. A pleasant mixture of DIY and design has been born here which is not only semi-natural and simple in its atmosphere and individuality, but also elegant. From here airy timber structures take over to define the composition. The area beneath them is protected against the weather by a white canvas revealing an irregular rhythm, by changing the height with roof bumps. The system of joists is alternatingly dense and ritka – the mass of the pub is a pierced but solid block, whilst the rest is breathier and more spacious. The exterior and interior, the old and the new, the rough brick and smoothed concrete co-exist, weeds grow in the cracks of the garden path, vines creep onto the timber structures, and one may grab the the wooden stairs next to the bar counter to walk up to an upper deck to enjoy the view as if on the roofdeck of an urban house.

General design: Blokk Építész Műhely
Architects: Nándor Nagy, Andrea Szakál, Ferenc Szakál