CIPÓ HILL, PANNONHALMA

Location Pannonhalma, Hungary
Client Arthur Bergmann Concept Kft.
Floor area 20 000 m2 on 15 ha
Architecture MCXVI Architects
Leading architect designer László Herczeg
Architect designers Gergely Galántai, Fruzsina Mezei, Dániel Szabó, Zsófia Paál
Status Design competition
Project year 2020

The development is significant compared to the scale of the settlement. Our site has always been an agricultural area. So far the city has not reached it, construction initiatives only took place in an unplanned way, starting from the direction of the main street. Due to the presence of thermal water and the demand for real estate from Győr, the construction of the area has been in the focus for the last 20 years. Our client decided to place 200 new flats on the site. Due to their size, this can only be implemented along with thorough urban development and urban architecture ideas, keeping in mind the economic aspects of the client and the municipality of Pannonhalma.

We revised the site plan prepared for the tender. We suggested changes in some places, however considered several elements to be retained. The Cipó Hill was not defined as a kind of inner garden of a residential park wedged between the back gardens, but as a real park surrounded by public areas. We added a clearly structured system to the new network of plots and turned the axis of the streets onto the abbey. The larger public buildings were placed in a distinctive place, the condominiums and smaller family houses in the flat areas while the villas were placed around the Cipó Hill.

Our site plan has better economic indicators than the one issued for the tender. We placed 122 plots with the total area of ​​ 135,000 m2. The real estate development will be organically connected to the current town centre, seen as an extension of it. In total, we designed 80 family houses, 20 villas and 104 flats in 26 four-apartment buildings, resulting in a total of 204 residential units.

In the installation of the houses, we chose the side-border installation in the case of the family houses, the almost terraced-like installation in the case of the condominiums, and a free-standing manner on the larger plots for the villas. The front gardens of the family houses were taken up to 7 meters. As usual, the garages and parking spots were places in the front gardens. The streets and gardens are richly planted with three-story vegetation. We tried to give the smallest possible paved area on the streets, the side streets are one-way.

In material use, the tile and brick elements on the upper levels dominate. This was mainly due to the large tiled roofs appearing in the characteristic former farm buildings of the settlement and the view of the abbey. We used a lot of wood on the facades of the houses, especially in the additional transitional spaces, pergolas, canopies and terraces. The floor plan of the buildings is economical, functional, the houses can be well ventilated.