Ádám Hatvani is an architect and graphic designer, graduated from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics 1995-
in 2000, at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2000.
sporaarchitects architectural office in Budapest, whose works have been published in the
regularly published in the national and international media. sporaarchitects is an open architecture firm based in Budapest.
young architects, architects, urban thinkers and architects who are interested in the city.
focusing on architecture, sustainability and ecological urban development.
In addition to numerous projects and research, it has been involved in the architectural design of two Danube stations
the recently inaugurated Budapest metro line four, the largest metro line in Hungary, which is now being
Hungary's largest infrastructure project.
Since 2005, he has been a member of KÉK, the Centre for Contemporary Architecture, the first internationally recognised Hungarian architectural
internationally renowned think tank.
Project description in English
Metro Three's interior design was a design icon of the '70s and '80s, before the concept itself even existed. The contemporary, poppy, bland, futuristic solutions, colours, shapes, surfaces and furnishings of its time have since been swept away by the permanent retro wave. The technical iron discipline of wall-to-wall reconstruction condemns these details to total destruction. What can be done?
Lehel Square station is one of the stations of the newly reconstructed metro line M3. The original interior design of M3 was a design icon of the '70s and '80s. The reconstruction keeps the original structure in place, while making the station accessible with new elevators and providing a new contemporary look keeping the original design of the line in mind.
Rebuilding is no longer an option, the technology and the will to do so no longer exist. The logic of the demolition process suggests another way. Removing the slatted ceilings, wall and column coverings reveals the true face of the metro, the real structures that until now have only been visible in tunnels and factory spaces: the tunnels, the steel tubing, the steel sheet insulation, the shotcrete, the slotted wall, the Mannesmann cannon barrel. What comes back, reinterprets, alludes, amplifies.
The current reconstruction focuses on the revision of the basic structure, modernisation and accessibility. The gallery level will be made accessible through the removal of intermediate stairs leading up to it, and its spaces will become part of the main ventilation system. The stairway openings will be architecturally retained, reinterpreted with Corten raw, rolled surface steel plate cladding 'splinters' to create a virtually uninterrupted sense of space, which will be perceived from the station platform. The splinters continue on the platform around the columns, incorporating fixtures, fittings and passenger information. The corten steel sheet cladding will run all the way to the entrances. The material and shapes of the steel plate evoke and express the underground world. The use of hard, raw materials is a reference to the Hungarian protagonist Lehel and the "élmunkások" (top workers of the Rákosi era) for whom the station is originally named. The austere steel plate architecture is contrasted by brightly coloured surface paintings.
