The EUR 7,8 million project of Duna Resort Ingatlanfejleszt? és Hasznosító Kft. marks an important development of the booming Budapest hospitality industry. �Based on surveys of the hospitality industry, today�s travelers are not looking for giant hotels offering faceless uniform rooms, rather for real aesthetic experience, authenticity and creative solutions of cozy hotels. Lánchíd 19 provides guest such a (sometimes astounding) design milieu that they will surely remember.� � said Csaba Valkó, Managing Director.

The hotel opened on August 15th. Its architectural and creative concept is based on the hotel�s relation with its direct neighbourhood, conversation with the past and the active participation of guests. The hotel�s moveable accordion-like glass façade is an autonomous artwork. It provides unique pictures in the night, so the hotel stands as a kind of �lighthouse� on the Danube riverbank. The movement of the glass lamellas that are painted with tiny graphics generally follows the flow speed of the Danube, but based on the signals of the meteo-sensor on the top of the hotel, the movement intensifies in strong wind and smoothes when the wind stops.

In the basement medieval walls and remains of a water-tower were excavated and renovated during the construction works. The water-tower was part of the system providing water to the Buda Royal Castle. The archaeological remains are visible from the lobby through glass flooring, serving as a section room for smaller events, e.g. wine tasting, exhibitions.

The hotel�s creative concept was made up by a new Hungarian initiative of design communications systems, namely defo (Design Focus). Many young artists of different fields (e.g. graphic designers, photographers, fashion designers) connected by their approach to play and experiment worked together in kind of workshops to make up the creative solutions meeting the needs of the multicultural guests of the hotel. This resulted in all the 45 rooms and 3 suites having an individual look. The walls feature the creative stories inspired by the modern chairs of well-known designers in the rooms, as if the recollections, fantasies and understandings of the guests entering the rooms were projected on the walls. Some of the rooms invite for a creative play, thus guests have a weekly wardrobe to dress an Erwan&Ronan Bouroullec chair, a George G. Sowden chair to watch a movie with, Philippe Starck�s Louis & Victoria Ghost to have a dance lesson with. Guests may also find themselves in a wedding ceremony, where Vitra by Verner Panton is the bride.

Staff uniform is not a confectionery there, the group elected this year�s Fashion Designer of Hungary made up the collection harmonizing with the hotel�s milieu.

Lánchíd 19 offers 45 rooms and 3 suites, all of them with a view at the UNESCO World Heritage sites Pest riverbank or the Buda Royal Castle. The hotel is located directly on the Danube riverbank, a hundred meters from the Budapest-symbol Lánchíd (�Chain Bridge�). Budapest City centre is within a further hundred meters, the Castle is a ten-minute walk to the top of the Castle hill which emerges literally from the backyard of Lánchíd 19. Each room provides free internet access, a flat, internet-able TV set featuring international channels, air-conditioning, minibar, safe deposit and phone as basic room fittings. The specially designed suites offer large panorama terraces. Lánchíd 19 accommodates three conference rooms with a combined capacity of 100 participants and L19 restaurant&bar.
 

Guestroom

Guestroom

Architects - Péter Sugár, László Benczúr Jr. 
Péter Sugár, DLA, Ybl-prize winning architect, graduated at the Architecture Faculty of the Budapest Technical University in 1980. He has been senior lecturer at the post-graduate course of Budapest University of Technology and Economics and assistant professor at the Department of Public Building Design since 2006. He owns several Hungarian professional prizes (Ybl Miklós-prize, Molnár Péter-prize, Nívó-prize of Architecture, House of the Year-prize). 

László Benczúr graduated at the Architecture Faculty of the College of Applied Arts in 1992 then he continued by Master of Arts. He received fellowship in Scotland and Germany.

Glass façade - Szövetség�39, Nextlab www.designhotels.com
Szövetség '39 and Nextlab are the art designers of the glass façade of Lánchíd 19 hotel. These two groups of young professionals, working on experimental developments, set up a workgroup of engineers, producers and co-artists for this project. The duty of this workgroup was to fill the architects' idea with tangible content and, besides the unique technological solutions, to make an individual artwork. The one-year long project resulted in a dynamic facade, which lives together with its surroundings - a 21st century muralia. This achievement that is unique both in solutions and conception in Europe was made by solely Hungarian professionals. The huge fingerprint-patterns of the glass bridges in the atrium and the butterfly-pattern that can be seen on the front stone wall of the hotel are also the results of this design process. www.lanchid19.blogspot.com

Creative concept � defo (design focus) - Dóra Fónagy, Anna Dávidházy, students of Moholy Nagy University of Art and Design 
Dóra Fónagy architect, interior designer and Anna Dávidházy trend researcher head the design communications system named defo (design focus). The expression �design� has so many understandings these days that it needs to be redefined. This is a kind of expedition of broad horizon. But before we start this expedition it is useful to have a starting point, a focus point in which all the area of contemporary design to be discovered meets. Design Focus program looks for the context of architecture, fashion, visual communications and trade in the Hungarian public life. It connects, informs and offers a strategy.

Staff uniform � USE
USE unused is one of the most successful young fashion designer teams in Hungary. The founders of the brand are Eszter Füzes, Attila Juhász-Godena and András Tóth.  All of them graduated from the Moholy Nagy University of Art and Design in 2004 � (MA) Womenswear, and since then they have run their own women�s wear line. USE has been elected Young Fashion Designer of years 2004, 2005 and Fashion Designer of 2007 in Hungary. In October 2006 their own showroom was opened in the Hungária Mill Garden, opposite of the National Theatre. At this time, their collections are available in Budapest, Berlin, Cologne, Stockholm, Goeteborg, Malmo, Helsinki, Kobe, Las Vegas, Korea and soon also going to be sold in New York and Paris as well.  www.use.co.hu

Design hotelsTM
Design hotels� represents and markets a hand-picked collection of more than 150 hotels in over 40 countries worldwide. The member hotels are independently owned but united by a commitment to individuality, progressive design and cultural authenticity. Design hotels� embody the most advanced ideas in hospitality industry and offer cosmopolitan travellers new options both for travel and inspiration. Design hotels� provides services ranging from public relations and marketing to global sales and revenue & distribution management. As of 2007 the company has an expanded service portfolio to include consultation in hotel development. The company was founded in 1993, with headquarters in Berlin and branches in London, Barcelona, New York, Singapore, Bali and Tokyo. Further information: www.designhotels.com

Szonja Demeter
[email protected]
+36 70 383 89 78
www.lanchid19hotel.hu