Budapest Presents Architecture Prizes

English

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The Semmelweis University's new Education Centre

The winners were the Kopaszi-gát project, a rehabilitation of a peninsula in the Danube in the south of the city (Gábor Turányi, Bence Turányi and Tamás Mórocz); the Krüll-Ung Office Building on the shores of the Danube in the north of the city (Emese Kalo, Eszter Szabó, József Pásztor); drug maker Gedeon Richter's new research centre and office building (Gábor Zoboki, Éva Oláh, Zoltán Tóth); the Semmelweis University's new Education Centre in District IX (Tamás Noll, Attila Madzin, Rózsa Csavarga); and the Budafok Water Tower, in the south of the captial (Perényi Tamás, Kolossa József).

 
The prize was established in 1995 to recognise the creation of new value and its effect on Budapest's cityscape as well as the preservation of the capital's architectural heritage.
 
The jury noted that, in addition to choice of materials and contemporary architectural value, they considered the structures' environmental impact and their mark on the surroundings in their assessment. Two projects which well fit the latter criteria are the Budafok Water Tower and the Kopaszi-gát project.
 
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The Krüll-Ung Office Building

The asymmetric silhouette of the Budafok Water Tower is a striking form in a green area far from the city centre. The panorama from the top of the structure is itself an element that has shaped the surrounding environment.

 
The Kopaszi-gát project has transformed what was once one of the most run-down areas of Budapest into a new kind of public space, though without completely eliminating the nostalgia of the place.
 
Author: Eszter Götz