IC-Hotel and Apartmenthouse, Budapest, Hungary

After several years of work, during which we have realized several small projects in Germany (Frankfurt, residential buildings, Berlin residential buildings) and in Hungary, we have also planned the transformation of several buildings for the German state (German Embassy Budapest, German Ambassador Residence) Budapest, the need to move up to a higher level Frank Buken is my young friend. Therefore, it seemed logical for Alf M. Prasch to enter into a more serious cooperation with his newly established company. Therefore, we managed to combine an ideal property and a real estate developer in Hamburg and start the Baross Intercity Hotel project.

The German architectural partners were responsible for establishing contacts, coordinating German designers and meeting the expectations of the hotel chain with German standards. We were responsible for coordinating Hungarian designers, contacting permitting authorities and preparing the required Hungarian materials and plans. However, we made our decisions on an equal footing. Both ideally, we looked at the German partners as well as many versions.

For the hotel facade we chose the idea born in Budapest with Buken and Prasch. The idea was given by a geometric game that solved this single facade with details of a player, which at the same time gives a rhythm and can be varied. The planes with sloping metal surfaces move along the facade to give a rapidly changing view, and the light gives special reflections and reflections. We hope that the building will be built according to our plans and will fulfill its task of raising the architectural level of Baross Square and advertising the possibility of cooperation between Hungarian and German architects.

On the one hand, there are no spectacular cooperation and exchange programs, but since there is cooperation between the two countries in the field of architecture, several architectural collaborations are known. My grandfather, the main architect of Budapest, was an urban designer, he had a close friendship with Walter Gropius and was the founder of the Bauhaus movement in Hungary. However, there are a number of difficult conditions that affect the cooperation. The procedure and content of the building permit process, the different fire safety regulations hinder the trust of German developers and German architects towards Hungarian architects. Our Hungarian designer has a big task to understand how the German hoai system works. However, the two architectural cultures influence each other, and the special architectural works in Germany have a great cultural significance in Hungary.