MOL Campus

Designs for MOL Campus, the new headquarters for the MOL Group, a global oil and gas company based in Hungary were revealed today. The new building is a vision for the workplace of the future that places sustainability at the heart of the campus. Located in southern Budapest, it is set to be the tallest building in the city, consolidating the company’s Budapest operations in a single location.

Nigel Dancey, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners said: “This is a landmark project for several reasons, not only for MOL but also for Budapest. It presents a unique challenge – to ensure that the building meets the functional needs of the organisation, follows the highest standards of sustainability, and is respectful of its historic surroundings.”

An evolutionary response to the traditional two-part tower-podium typology, the building’s unique form integrates a 28-storey tower with a podium a single form to create a unified campus. Its glazed façade sweeps up in a smooth curve from the entrance to the top of the tower, infusing the entire building with a sense of interconnectivity. Greenery follows the same trajectory, travelling through the heart of the building, from the central atrium on the ground floor, linked with skygardens throughout the tower, and culminating in a public garden at the top of the building. These green spaces also act as a social catalyst throughout the building, encouraging collaboration, relaxation and inspiration by bringing nature closer to the workplace.

“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” added Dancey. Offset service cores create large flexible areas that further encourage collaborative patterns of working. Using cutting edge technology to control light levels, temperature and views these workspaces are finely calibrated to create the perfect working environment, a light filled inspirational space for people to work in.

Setting a new benchmark both for Budapest and Hungary, the design of the building makes the most of its urban context to drive a sustainable response. The MOL Campus seeks to preserve live-work relationships as part of the urban experience, where people are able to walk or cycle to work. All occupants have a direct connection to the external environment providing fresh air, daylight and views, and the building utilises low and zero carbon energy sources, such as photovoltaics, also featuring rainwater harvesting and storage facilities.

These three terms can only be used to roughly describe the new headquarters of the MOL Group in Budapest, because they are still far from enough to understand the entire scope of the project. The 28-story building, planned by star architects Foster + Partners, is now the tallest building in Hungary. The aim of the project was to set new standards for sustainable construction in the middle of the vibrant metropolis of Budapest. With the long-term strategy “2030+”, the MOL Group has set itself the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The construction of the new headquarters is an essential building block on this path.

In terms of interior design, our partner Kinzo won an international competition in 2017 with its concept of promoting this cultural change in the company with an agile working world. This is how a future-oriented working environment was created on the MOL campus, which creates a particularly lively environment through lush greenery. Completely in line with the company’s sustainable strategy. A working world inspired by urban life, with places for community and exchange, but also with spaces for retreat and concentration, runs through all floors. As is the opulent planting, which creates veritable green spaces as a central design element.

Structuring & planting.
In order to structure the wide, open areas of the offices totaling 43,000 square meters, basic cap cabinets were used. As a design element, they form the necessary structure in the room between the workstations and at the same time offer storage space directly at the workstation behind the flush sliding doors. In coordination with the other interiors, the fronts veneered with real wood and the color accents used contribute to the high-quality ambience and create visual moments of identification. basic top attachments for greening the 3,600 workplaces complement the schematic planting concept.