Historic Budapest Warehouses Renovated with a Whale-Shaped Glass Atrium

The <a href="http://www.oosterhuis.nl/quickstart/index.php?id=cet" target="_blank">Central European Time (CET) Building</a> is an amalgamation of two warehouses joined by a large whale-shaped glass atrium in Budapest. Designed by <a href="http://www.oosterhuis.nl" target="_blank">ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd]</a> of Rotterdam, the multi-functional hall now provides space for events, restaurants, bars and design shops. Not only does the project provide needed commercial and event space in the area, but it also will provide more public space along the river, establishing a visual connection between between Buda and Pest. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_information_modeling">BIM</a> was used to design the glass atrium, which is carefully shaded to prevent overheating while still allowing a flood of daylight.

This month <a href="http://www.oosterhuis.nl/" target="_blank">ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd]</a> handed the CET Building over to the City of Budapest.

The mixed-use space will be used for restaurants, bars, design-oriented shops, events, conferences, concerts and much more.

The building was named through a city-wide contest, where the public thought the building's shape reminded them of a whale.

Located at the Közraktárak between the Petofi and the Szabadság Bridge, the CET Building is the only one built directly at the embankments of the Danube river with only bike paths and terraces.

Busy roads separate the rest of the city from the river, so the CET building has a unique connection with the river as well as the adjacent Nehru Park.

Two historic warehouses were carefully renovated to form the foundation of the new mixed-use building.

ONL made use of BIM to design the glass atrium to connect the two historic spaces.

The 18,500 m2 building is five stories tall with 2 stories of underground parking.

Glass and aluminum panels were carefully placed to maximize daylight and minimize overheating inside the atrium space.

Inside the multi-purpose event space.

The project was awarded the Autodesk BIM Experience Award for its use of Building Information Modeling Process for innovative Mass-Customization and File-2-Factory production process and was also featured as a hero project on the 2010 edition of Revit Architecture.

The CET Building is an impressive project that not only renovates historic buildings, but uses innovative architecture and technology to create a useful mixed-use space and improve urban spaces for the public.

Cross section diagram of the CET Building.