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Hotel**** Balneum

This is a project by Ferdinand and Ferdinand Architects and it is located at Tiszafüred, Hungary. There are nine images for Hotel**** Balneum.

: © Ferdinand and Ferdinand Architects

Project images

Designer's statement

The idea of the architect was to endow the building with a modern and aesthetic appearance using traditional local materials. That's why light plaster was selected together with ceramic roof tiles and plenty of wood - for terraces, for pergolas and for shields. Thanks to the flood forests - in this part of the country wood has always been available for building village houses. Willow tree is probably the most characteristic tree of the region, twigs and branches of willow trees were wickered to create useful household objects, such as baskets, armchairs, etc. This tradition was continued in the interior decoration of the spa - the reception desk was made of wickered willow tree, as well as the lampshades of suspension lamps and of consoles, and wicked willow branches were used to shape chests of drawers - all that was hand made by local ladies, in accordance with the local patriot attitude of the owner.

The buildings mass and the scale of certain architectural elements, as well as the proportions of these elements are based on local traditions, however this is not a mechanical copy of traditional folk architecture, rather a way of conception, which shall by no means mitigate the contemporary tone. The entire complex is permeated by the traditional local spirit. This, of course is not in contrast with modern engineering - on the contrary it is very much in line with the objectives of modern building engineering, since as we return to the ecological way of life -we do nothing but continue or ancestors' tradition. This approach was prevalent and typical even 50-60 years ago in the Hungarian countryside. In our grandparents', great-grandparents' times everything was in line with sustainability requirements, they used agricultural by-products for heating, practically everything was recycled and no garbage or was created. Renewable building materials were used that provided protection both against the summer heat and freezing winter weather. It is true, that our expectations regarding comfort have increased in the meantime and we can not return to the same standards that we lived to half a century ago, however we can and have to return to the way our ancestors were thinking about nature conservation by applying modern high profile technology in order to meet ecological requirements.