Interview with BORD Architectural Studio Llc

BORD Architectural Studio Llc ("BASL") interviewed on Tuesday, 7 August.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

BASL : Our firm offers services including general architectural- and interior design plans; we provide complete solutions from conceptual design to construction phases. Our aim is not only to offer perfect engineering services but also to satisfy our clients with the highest quality designs. In our studio the dreams of our commissioners can be embodied in especially unique buildings. The designer of the individual atmosphere of our creations is PETER BORDAS, founder and lead architect of BORD Studio, registered member with the Chamber of Hungarian Architects. A highly qualified, dynamic and creative team of architects and experienced engineers are liable for the precise, remarkably high level of services. We have an own team of mechanical engineers to guarantee sustainable design in our projects.

How did you become a designer?

BASL : In fact I never had the intention to become one! As a child I started to draw my own house, and then I was told I can design it for real only in case I am an architect. My one and only goal was this and I planned to choose another profession after achieving it. Even when I started the Faculty of Architecture the possibility to design something for others seemed completely indifferent to me.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

BASL : All our projects have a different story, a guideline which provides a unique narrative or choreography for the building. This determines the concept, the main spatial system or the shape and volume. The story personalizes the design. Another main aspect which we are extremely interested in is the connection between interior and exterior. Our current projects vary from leisure and sport facilities, industrial buildings to offices and housing projects. I wish more multifunctional projects - the more complex needs it has to meet, the better for us. We like the challanges in such projects.Architecture - or design in general - depends mostly on psychology. If you are sensitive to the people you design for, then you are less likely to make mistakes.

What is your day to day look like?

BASL : The main motivation for me stands in the community of our studio. It might sound stereotypical, but keeping in pace all the collegues and maintain their well-being is the most important goal for every day.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

BASL : In the field of architecture a global design language is used nowadays. Developed and maintained by the quick global flow of information it is uniformed and less sensitive than it should be. I believe that the future of architecture is based on the individual needs of smaller communities, instead of the global design language used by everyone at the moment.

What is your biggest design work?

BASL : We have a few projects in parallel at the moment, however the biggest is the National Skating Centre of Hungary. It is a multifunctional facility with ice surfaces, swimming pool, offices and hotel on several floors. This complexity makes it really interesting for us. The sports complex has to be eligible for national and international competitions and serve as a home for several sports from figure skating to hockey, while it also has to be suitable for public skating. A sports hotel, a restaurant, a conference room, retail areas and a swimming pool are also integrated in the plans.From the earliest stage of the planning process, we searched for a concept, which is like Ariadne’s thread, leading and guiding us through the design process. The ice skating rink that is surrounded by the stands basically determines and organizes the floor plan of the building. This elliptical shape appeared to us as a pond on the plans from the beginning of the design process. In our concept, we intended to ‘freeze’ this water into a building mass. With this approach, we were able to create the perfect impression of an iceberg as the key design concept.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

BASL : In our studio, all our architects are design partners. Everyone feels the project and the design their own and I think it is very important. However there are a few collegues considered as members of a group, called 'lifebelt', each able to substitute me in specific fields and decisions, supervising all the actual projects. Development happens through our projects: we work on them and after they are built, we can learn the consequences. The more experience we have, the closer we get to the truth.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

BASL : Actually our first project to win an award at A'Design Award&Competitionis Moonvalley vinery, as one of our earliest remarkable project. Several years passed since then, but the design proved its lasting values - not only by its capability to function, but also by being enrolled as a winner project. This feedback is very important to our whole studio.