The planned basketball hall was located in the area between the Budai Antal Nagy High School and the György Kolonics Primary School. By pulling the building back from the plot boundary, the area retains its spirit, its grove character. By connecting the two plots and developing landscape architecture with active green spaces, an interoperable large garden is created that is capable of a wide range of sports and recreational activities.Since the building is located on the very edge of a perfect monumental environment, the architectural design and respect for the existing environment was of paramount importance to us.

In its current state, the courtyard is divided into several levels with slopes and plateaus. Utilizing this complex topography, the planned one-level building partially sinks into the ground, thus compensating for the high ceiling height of the hall space. By placing the service functions below ground level, a large green roof is created, and at the same time we regain part of the garden. The floating mass of the lightweight wooden roof structure and the heavy foundation sunk into the ground are its own dynamic creation. Visual creation of a row of windows separating the two main elements between the interior and the exterior green area. The use of materials follows a threefold division of the mass: the building sunk into the ground gets a heavy concrete cover, and the top’s sparkling sheet metal cover refers to the nearby Törley Champagne Manufactory.

The entrance zone is marked by an external covered foyer, and the roof section extending from the south shields the large glass surface. These transitional spaces are rich in spatial experience, they are also the external spaces of community life. A large terrain staircase connects to the building from the south-east, thus creating the roof gardens of the building and the plot of the Buda Nagy Antal Gimnázium, and also connects the roof garden with the playground below.

Primarily, a gym will be established, which will periodically be suitable for organizing youth competitions, tournaments and other sport events. In addition, the building provides an opportunity to hold gymnastics classes at two neighboring schools. Two smaller training tracks were placed in the hall space, and a center course (15.0m x 28.0m standard FIBA racetrack) was designed by rotating the training tracks crosswise. There are pull-out stands next to the race track, which can accommodate a total of 2×122 = 244 people.

We imagine the energy system from renewable sources first of all. We strive to use durable, high-quality, environment friendly materials for construction. When designing the building service system, in addition to the low aquisition costs, we kept low sustainability and reliable operation in mind. We want to provide heating and hot water to the building with district heating, so there is no local pollution. Over time, the environmental impact of district heating may decrease with the installation of renewable energy sources and advanced filters. The hall space is designed with natural lighting and ventilation, so we want to keep operating costs low. Mechanical ventilation is only done in sanitary areas. Protection of the building against overheating is provided by a fixed overhanging building structure and movable textile blinds in the hall space. The solar panels on the west roof partially cover the electrical demand of the building.

Our goal was to create a new sustainable urban environment in a finalized architectural environment, beside planning changes in a proportionate and balanced way, utilizing historical values. We have found three areas with different characteristics at the site. During the design process we continued to take these characteristics into consideration.

I. URBAN – The area of the former wain house and BKV transformer. The basic structure stated earlier has been continued with adding new buildings and extensions along the axis of the existing promenade.

II. GREEN – The area of the former dairy distribution building under Nr 31, Rottenbiller. Demolishing the industrial buildings except the building facing the street allows us to place new buildings with large green surfaces and park between the constructed areas.

III. HERITAGE – The former seed trading site located under Nr 33. Rottenbiller Street. Here we mainly operated with the existing building stock and added a new building, so nearly condensed to the density limit. The transition zone between the volumes is covered with a glass roof that creates a sense of interior space.

The dense arrangement in one area provided an opportunity to create a more airy arrangement of buildings in the other area, and above all, to create a continuous park there. We ensure connections between the three areas partly by the arrangement of buildings and partly by adding new openings.

We planned many kind of functions and different building arrangements, yet we were looking for a certain material that would connect and kind of unify them, moreover give a character and a brand to this district. The use of brick was an obvious choice. The industrial buildings of the XIX th century were made with raw brick facades in the city, and so were here. It appears on many residential buildings of that period, often along with plaster.  Durable and timeless material gives many kind of architectural and detailing possibilities and provides an opportunity to fine-tune individually the certain buildings.