Title

Author(s)

Gábor Fábián DLA

Affiliation

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

DOI

https://doi.org/10.65686/RWQQ7567

Keywords

Reuse, Minimal Intervention, Sufficiency

PP

352-357

How to Cite

DLA, Gábor Fábián. “Transformation of a 100-year-old Fruit Storage Building Family Home in Szentendre.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on Adaptive Reuse. Volume 1, edited by Andrea Crudeli, Francesca Molle, and Emanuele Carrai, 352–357. Firenze: STH Press, 2026.

Abstract

We must revise our practice of demolishing existing buildings. Their spatial reserves call us to reutilize them. Szentendre is located on the banks of the Danube, close to Budapest in Hungary. Its former orchard, which is preserved in the name of Pismány, has become an agglomeration of Budapest. New buildings are mushrooming on the hill, puffing up and dominate the landscape. Once built as a fruit storage house of the rocks extracted from its garden, the building was later enlarged with a romantic open archway and used as a weekend house from the 1980s. When we first stepped into the beautiful, wild garden – it had been deserted for years. The real estate agents didn’t even bring the keys as everybody was sure the building must be demolished. We immediately realized that there was such potential in the long-evolved spatial structure that must not be lost. Fortunately, the owners also felt that. The existing capabilities of the space met all the needs of Orsi, Viktor and their dog, Zara. Due to its size and central position, the original stone fruit storage building became the main living zone, including the living room and the dining area. At the same time, the narrow „archway” provides space for the other additional functions of the house, but not in a subordinate relationship. Like the upper level, the open space above the inner core is structured by the extant, considerably unusual trussed roof construction made of hollow structural section profiles. The thermal insulation of the building is made on the outside, framing the arches with rectangular windows, preserving its peculiar atmosphere from the inside. We should summarize what makes this project special; almost nothing has been added to the original structure to develop it; only the futile details have been removed, it is almost “the art of creating values by subtraction.” (Jo Nagasaka 2017, 14)

Edited by
Andrea Crudeli
Francesca Molle
Emanuele Carrai

Publisher
STH Press, Firenze

ISBN Paperback – 9791281661141
ISBN Ebook – 9791281661158
DOI – https://doi.org/10.65686/SISY7263

Year
2026

Proceedings of
International Conference on Adaptive Reuse
hosted by The University of Pisa, Italy
15-19 September 2025, at the Gispoteca di Arte Antica dell’Università di Pisa.