I am sure the reader can imagine the site, the building plot, which is a source of architectural inspiration. The ideal environment where designing a house is a celebration of the profession, where the architect, on his first visit to the site, experiences what Petrarch experienced on Mont Ventoux.
Well, the site of the house we are about to present is not such a place. It is almost the exact opposite of the ideal: narrow, the character of the neighbouring houses is lousy, the streetscape is commercial, dull and uninteresting, the orientation of the east-facing slope is purely utilitarian rather than thoughtful, varied and liveable. Although some decent trees from the nearby woodland survive on the boundary, and the terraces on the upper floors of the new house offer a glimpse of the meeting of the Buda hills and the Pilis, nothing is really in place.
For client and designer, the real challenge was therefore to make the best of an unfavourable building situation. ……