Studio Fragment
New educational building for Semmelweis University – Faculty of Health Sciences
best architects 24
education buildings
Place
Budapest, Hungary
Studio
Photos
Balázs Danyi
Description
The project is an extension of a locally listed
medical university building dating from the early 1900s. The site stretches
between two streets in the so-called «palace quarter» of Budapest,
which contains palatial mansions as well as important cultural and educational
institutions mainly built in nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The new
volume and the existing building form one coherent complex. The basic design
principles are based on and were developed from the dialogue with the existing
building. The addition creates a completed inner courtyard. The two buildings
are connected on all levels and the interior spaces are organised by a central
atrium which is the main spatial element of the new wing. The atrium is a
modern repetition of the old one. Community spaces surround the atrium and a visual
connection to the inner courtyard is created on each level that gives an airy
feeling on the interior. The building follows and captures the strong axiality
and characteristic rhythm of the façades of the neighbourhood buildings. The
zig-zag geometry, for example, evokes the shadow effects of historical structures
and gives the building a two-faced appearance in the narrow street. A
combination of smooth and textured precast concrete elements articulates the façade,
which matches the colour of the existing building. On both the street and courtyard
façades, the grid is an abstraction that follows the building’s own structure
and subtly responds to the heritage architecture.