TRANSFORMER HOUSE, RECONSTRUCTION

Location Budapest, Markó utca
Client Bonemo Kft.
Project management AIG/LINCOLN
Floor area 2 000 m2
General design MCXVI Architects
Leading architect designer László Herczeg
Architect designer Ágota Demeter, Zita Csaba
Project phase Invitational design competition
Project year 2015

According to the art history study, this building is one of the outstanding architectural works of its era. It is an industrial monument which is a rare example of Art Deco in Hungary.
The original transformer function has resulted in a carefully designed yet strictly engineered building. The exterior facade is attractive, the house’s volume shows contemporary craftsmanship, but due to the narrow space and technology, no real architectural interior spaces could be created. The interior of the building was completely filled by the technology. There were only two areas that were originally humane, the entrance, the stairwell’s square and the rooftop switchgear room.
The plan connects with the exterior image of the building, gives the interior spaces a character and humanises them. The old tranformator’s gravitational ventilation system stretched behind the west facade. Here, the structure was doubled on the facade. At the site of the ventilation holes we opened an atrium between the two structural parts, planting green plants in the atrium. The resulting airspace improves the lighting of the interiors and assists the heat-streaming. The office spaces face towards the atrium at all levels and can be ventilated naturally.