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Renovation and conversion of the Ligeti Studio-Villa

Architect

Zombor Gábor

Company

monoSTUDIO

Designed in

2017

Built in

2019

Address

1143 Budapest, Stefánia út 20.

Prizes

Budapest Award of Architectural Excellence, Commendation, 2020

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The studio house was built for the sculptor Miklós Ligeti in 1904, on Stefánia, the highly prestigious avenue of the turn of the century. Its architects were Lajos Jámbor and Zoltán Bálint. After World War II, the building served as the studio of the sculptor Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl, known as the creator of the Liberty Statue on Gellért Hill.

In recent decades, the fate of the building has proceeded in the unfortunately well-known way: its condition has deteriorated, additions have made it chaotic and ugly, and its original architecture has also been damaged. It was recently restored as the headquarters of the Polgári Magyarországért Alapítvány (Foundation for a Civic Hungary). The restrained Art Nouveau design of the original building was dominated by the accentuated roof design, the roof terrace with crenellations and pergola and the large studio windows, featuring almost a pre-Modern simplicity. During the restoration, the architect respected the main elements of the building. By changing the level of the terrace, and supplementing the back and side façades, he created new useful areas upstairs. The large studio window was intersected with the terrace in a special way even in the original design, and this motif has now become even more pronounced: the former studio room received a special spatial form, and the terrace got a motif with characteristic massing. The interior, dominated by a carefully preserved and restored wooden staircase, serves as the foundation’s headquarters, an office building. The garden is exemplary, designed with contemporary landscape architectural tools in full harmony with the building.

Lead architect in charge

Zombor Gábor

Architectural Co-designer

Juhász Balázs

Architect collaborators

Csík Zsolt, Lality Áron

architectural assistants

Zsupos Zoltán

Structural engineering

Baratta Egon

Building constructions

Dr. Dobszay Gergely