Location: District XIII, Budapest

Area: 13 056 m²

Year: 2019 - ongoing

Client: Skanska Property Hungary Ltd.

General Designer: IN-EX Építészeti és Mérnöki Zrt

Concept Design and visuals: ARROW Architects

Engineering: Ganz Hydro Kft.

Status: Phase I completed 

Photographs: Attila Glázer

H₂Offices is being built on the site of the former Budapest Waterworks headquarters, the name of which indicates that water and the heritage of the place received great attention during the design. The complex of three office buildings and the surrounding garden have been designed in close collaboration with the team of Danish Arrow Architects and IN-EX Architecture and Engineering, and the developer Skanska.

The main goal of the project is to create an ecologically rich green development in an urban context, inspired by the Hungarian native flora and its unique character. Important aspects are the ability to harvest the runoff from stormwater event while considering the users and their experience. The green surfaces connect the three buildings into one system.

The various planting typologies and the naturalistic lakes morph into a single coherent structure. On a micro scale it consists of smaller ecosystems, each one with its own microclimate. The building with its transparent interior creates a strong visual connection and amplifies the effect of the surrounding green. Every building as an individual unit has been provided with the benefits and responsibility to look after a lake with adjacent raingarden but also with spaces and conditions for recreation and social activities. On a macro scale the wholistic design approach for the site gives the feeling of single complex system built from ecological processes and human interactions with no clear boundaries.

Sustainability was a top priority in the design of the building and the garden, also in order to achieve LEED and WELL certifications. The construction of the first phase of the complex is currently underway.