Striking new headquarters of the Hungarian Autoklub takes form of letter ‘A’
Vikar&Lukacs Architects Studio won the commission for this project through a competition for a new iconic 3,430 sq m headquarters of the Hungarian Autoklub. The main gesture of the building is a ribbon that wraps around the office spaces on seven floors, while articulating a letter ‘A’.
As the site is located near the Danube Bridge in Budapest local politicians requested a building that works as a point of orientation for drivers that arrive to district Ujpest. The main hall and service functions are found on the ground floor, while on the very top, under the arc is a rooftop terrace for representative meetings.
The looping strip is about 1m thick, it has a changing width and deforms as it articulates the loop. The two components of the building come back also in the material usage, the strip without openings with metal cladding, and the glass curtainwall of the wrapped building volume. Using geothermal energy system in the building helped the architects to free the rooftop from technical devices.
