The RTL Liget building in Budapest, developed by WING, has won the “Office Building of the Year 2024” award at Hungary’s 15th annual Office of the Year competition, dedicated to recognizing the country’s most outstanding offices, office buildings, real estate companies, service providers and key personalities.
The jury gave the award to RTL Liget, a WING project developed specifically for RTL Hungary, which, according to WING, “combin[es] the preservation of historical values with a modern, sustainable office environment.” According to WING, “as part of the development, the listed Liget Center Classic and Auditorium buildings were revitalized in Budapest’s District VI, right next to City Park. Since the summer of 2024, the property has been operating as RTL Hungary’s central base.”
The Liget Center Classic and the adjoining Auditorium buildings were originally constructed between 1948 and 1951 and previously served as the headquarters of the MEMOSZ (Hungarian National Federation of Construction Workers). WING equipped it with modern technology designed to meet the specific functional requirements arising from RTL’s broadcasting activities. The Auditorium houses the channel’s news directorate and news studios, while the Classic building accommodates the company’s office functions. During the renovation of the nearly 75-year-old building, the entire heating and cooling system was replaced with modern heat pump equipment, and both the Liget Center Classic and Auditorium are powered entirely by green electricity.
In addition, WING reports, “a key focus during the renovation was the protection of architectural values: the monumental relief on the façade, ‘Builders,’ by Istvan Tar, and Dezso Lanyi’s ‘Construction Workers’ sculpture were also restored and returned to their original locations.”
The third element of the Liget Center project, the Liget Center Vitrum, is a new, premium boutique office building that reached its shell & core state in the autumn of 2024.
TIBA Architectural Studio was responsible for the design of the Auditorium, WORKUP handled general construction, and LAB5 architects provided the interior design.