In the heart of the city – surrounded by greenery

With 632 residential units, several shops, restaurants, fitness centres and offices, residents of the new green project in Budapest have everything they need. The quiet streets around Metrodom Panoráma are lined with historic single-storey houses and more modern four or five-storey buildings from the last 20 years. But the new building complex stands head and shoulders above its surroundings – the tallest of its structures has 17 floors.
 
It was designed by the architectural duo Zsolt Hajnal and Péter Kendelényi, in close collaboration with the Metrodom Investment and Construction team. The development is based around a concrete column structure, and the frame is filled with a variety of Porotherm bricks: Porotherm 30 Klima Profi and Porotherm 20 N+F, while the partition walls and curtain walls are built from Porotherm 10 N+F and high-strength Porotherm solid bricks.

But it’s not just the structure itself that impresses – there are also 170 trees, three kilometres of shrubs in boxes, and dozens of smaller plants that grow on and up the façades and around the four towers of the Metrodom Panoráma. It is the first time Hungary has seen this kind of green façade used on a building of this size and in the whole of Europe, there is only one other pioneering design where it’s employed – on the multiple buildings of the Bosco Verticale in Milan.
 
The biggest challenge for the landscaping team was maintaining the vegetation on the façade, which is constantly changing and looks different form one month to the next. An automatic, multi-circuit irrigation system supplies the living wall with water and nutrients, so residents do not have to worry about caring for the plants.

As well as being a versatile place to live and work, with green vistas, Metrodom Panoráma is also intended to provide recreational and social spaces and, with its multi-generational playground, also has a space where children and their parents can relax together. This holistic design has now also been showered with architectural awards: after winning a Hungarian architecture prize in the category of medium-height residential buildings last year, Metrodom Panoráma also represented Hungary at the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence International Real Estate Development Award.
 
The project eventually went on to win an international gold medal at the competition, which is sponsored by the Wall Street Journal. The vertical, hanging garden design was highlighted as something of a flagship project in Europe, and is having a positive impact on the international reputation of the Hungarian real estate market.