Normafa Ski House, Budapest

The careful renovation and extension by Hetedik Műterem & Studio Konstella brings the Normafa Ski House back to its natural environment.

On top of the hills of the Hungarian capital, the old Ski House from 1930 has been beautifully extended and completely renovated back to its original sleek and sober architecture.

Buda and Pest were originally separate cities, separated by the Danube River. Pest was the flat, extensive city, and Buda and Óbuda the more residential towns in the hills. One of those hill tops is Normafa, a popular place to escape from the heat in the summer, with a beautiful view over the city. It’s also a very popular place in the winter, because you can go skiing there, and only about half an hour away from the centre of the capital. It’s been a skiing site since at least 1895, then in the 1920s two ski jumps were built, and ten years after that the so-called Ski House was built. Today, this characteristic building is a local monument. The symmetrical structure with the semi-circular loggia was initially built as a customs post, as one of 14 new buildings along the customs border that ran around the capital at the time. The local farmers paid their taxes here for the crops they brought to the capital to sell. At the same time, the idea arose that the new customs office could also become a shelter where skiers could change and warm up in the winter. The building permit plans from 1929 have been preserved, but the names of the architects are unfortunately illegible. A similar customs office was also built on the north side of the hill, and is currently in use as a single-family home.

In the middle of the building, directly behind the veranda, was a communal warm-up area where the skiers could also enjoy whatever food and drink they had brought with them, as there was no café at the time.

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