Office In Debrecen

OFFICE IN DEBRECEN

Archiko Kft

Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky

ARCHITECTS
Archiko Kft

STATIC DESIGNER
Zsigmond Dezső

ARCHITECT DESIGNER
Péter Kovács DLA (Archiko Kft.)

ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Péter Kovács DLA (Doctor of Liberal Arts)

ARCHITECT CO WORKERS
Barna Hajdú, György Kazamér

BUILDING ENGINEER DESIGNER
Béla Bodó

ELECTRICAL DESIGNER
Zsolt Nagy

TRANSPORT PLANNER
László Tarcsai

AREA PLOT
347 m2

MANUFACTURERS
Hormann, Essmann Hungária Kft., Hella Ánr Árnyékolástechnika Kft., Internorm

PHOTOGRAPHS
Tamás Bujnovszky

AREA
237.0 sqm

YEAR
2014

LOCATION
Debrecen, Ötmalom utca 5, 4029 Hungary

CATEGORY
Offices

Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky

Text description provided by the architects.

Actually, the latest building designed by Péter Kovács, architect from Debrecen (city in east side of Hungary, 240 km. fare from Budapest) does not quite fit into the genre detailed in the introduction as the house is not a family house but a studio.

However, a parallel can still be drawn since the building is a deep, personal, self-reflexive work of art, which reflects the role of the architect, layered as it is.

Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky

Such an artistic expression makes us think through many things – first of all, the atmosphere of the place.

The plot can be localized both on a 1771 Debrecen map and on a map from a hundred years later.

This is almost the oldest urban tissue of the so-called “civis city” (civis is a Latin word for “citizen”, it is also a root word for city; in Hungarian history civis cities were old country-towns on the Hungarian Great Plains) which remained intact and consists of barely a few streets.

Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky

The impressive widening road in front of the house and the name “ötmalom” (five mills) indicate the former circle-shaped dry mills that were attached to work-horses with rods.

The wide gates and inner gardens of the old houses found here still show the civil character of the country-town. Péter Kovács knows all the neighbours and their houses very well.

He understands these streets. He understands the scales, the whys, the hows. He sums it all up in the following way: a strong, 2.35 m high brick fence turning into the street on the corner closes the plot's side overlooking Ötmalom Street.

Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky

The presence of the fence ensures its historical identity and the unique nature of the plot. The slightly appearing bricks – there is a brick paving, too – under the weathered plaster not only show the old building material but also make one feel like travelling back in time.

They refer to the old houses' few opening schemes, which differed from the architectural design of modern apartment houses: back then, mainly walls and roofs dominated.

Moreover, the fence is not a part only of this plot; it is a characteristic feature of the street-line.

Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky

There is another dominant feature of the scenery: the steeple of the so-called “Verestemplom” (red (brick) church) in the background, built it in 1887 (arch. Samuel Petz). The third major feature is the presence of trees. The inspiring key elements at the site are definitely the brick fence, the church steeple, and the trees.”

Obviously, there is a special client-designer relationship when it comes to designing one's own building.

Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky

This situation tells us about self-knowledge, the freedom of expression, self-discipline, inner struggles, desires and limits.

We can almost inhale the evaporating past of the weathered flesh and mossy tiles of the surrounding old houses from the inner terraces and the garden of the corner house – the building is somehow transforming into a house-shaped sculpture. Strolling through the clean white interiors, we get an insight into the inner layers of the realm of architecture.

Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky


Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky


Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky
Office In Debrecen
© Tamás Bujnovszky


Office In Debrecen
Model 
Office In Debrecen
Model


Office In Debrecen
Section
Office In Debrecen
Section
Office In Debrecen
Section


Office In Debrecen
Floor plan
Office In Debrecen
Floor plan
Office In Debrecen
1st Floor plan
Office In Debrecen
Site plan