MOL Group’s 400 KSF Budapest Campus Design Unveiled

By Barbra Murray

MOL Campus in Budapest, Hungary

Foster + Partners has unveiled the design for MOL Group’s new headquarters, MOL Campus, in Budapest, Hungary’s capital city. The architecture firm’s vision for the global oil and gas company’s new office digs will give the European city its tallest building.

MOL Campus will rise nearly 394 feet above the banks of the Danube, within close proximity to MOL’s current headquarters. The premier office destination will feature flexible workspaces, cutting-edge technology and a spotlight on sustainability with both LEED and BREEAM certification. Of particular note, the 28-story tower will be augmented by an integrated podium, a concept with meaning. “As we see the nature of the workplace changing to a more collaborative vision, we have combined two buildings—a tower and a podium—into a singular form, bound by nature. As the tower and the podium start to become one element, there is a sense of connectivity throughout the office spaces, with garden spaces linking each of the floors together,” Nigel Dancey, head of studio, Foster + Partners, said in a prepared statement.

MOL Campus in Budapest, Hungary (riverside view)

MOL Campus will also offer restaurant space on the lower floors, a conference center and other staff facilities. Additionally, addressing MOL’s desire to integrate some of the outside world into the work environment, Foster + Partners created a design that allows all office occupants a direct connection to the external environment in the form of fresh air, daylight and views. The building’s sky gardens will pay a big role in achieving that goal. It’s all part of a package conceived to create a certain employee experience. “By improving quality of life, workplace experience design also plays a significant role in the competition to attract and retain the best and the brightest talent,” according to quality of life services provider Sodexo’s 2017 report on global workplace trends. “Becoming a sought-after employer is, in fact, a major benefit to organizations that focus on the employee experience.”

The right designer for the job

Foster + Partners is anything but a stranger to designing the ultimate modern-day workplace. The spectacular look of Apple’s new $5 billion Silicon Valley office campus can be attributed to the firm, which also masterminded the tech giant’s green-centric Apple store in San Francisco’s Union Square.

Standing head and shoulders above the rest is also a signature of Foster + Partners. At the Varso Place mixed-use development in Poland, the firm designed the main office tower, which will take on the title of the tallest office building in Central and Eastern Europe.

MOL Campus is scheduled to welcome the first of what will ultimately be as many as 2,500 employees in 2021.

Image courtesy of Foster + Partners