Renowned for its historical architecture, Budapest is home to many neoclassical buildings such as the famous St. Stephen’s Basilica alongside neo-Gothic monuments, distinctive tiled roofs and Art Nouveau façades. But at the same time, the city has no shortage of strikingly contemporary buildings. One example is a private home designed by Hungarian architect Bényei Istvan for an area surrounded by greenery: a large, ultra-modern two-floor villa with an extensive outdoor area which stands out for its intense colour contrasts and striking geometries both inside and out. According to Bényei Istvan, the villa’s most important characteristic is the way it blends in with the surrounding area. “We were able to create a contemporary, sophisticated building with meticulously designed details that integrates seamlessly into the existing environment.” The project also adopted a number of strategies during the design and construction stages to ensure environmental sustainability. These ranged “from shading systems to heat pumps”, explains the architect, as well as a ventilated façade to control the exchange of heat, air and light between interior and exterior and thereby ensure energy savings and insulation. Ceramic tiles from Italian company Lea Ceramiche’s Absolute collection were chosen for the ventilated façade, a choice that according to the tile manufacturer “gives the exterior a harmonious colour balance with the Total Black and Grey Flow tiles from the Waterfall collection, resulting in a striking aesthetic effect”.
The interior of the home is equally modern, high-performance and characterful thanks to its black and white furnishings and high-quality materials, including a number of other tile collections from Lea Ceramiche. These include the slate-effect Waterfall collection chosen for the staircase leading to the second floor and the Nest and Delight collections – the first displaying a series of triangles and hexagons and the second with a marble effect – which were used for the walls in the two master bathrooms. These tiles add an extra touch of luxury to the home’s already sophisticated style.
