Opera

The Opera House of Ybl Miklós is one of the most outstanding Neo-Renaissance buildings in Hungary. The complete architectural reconstruction of the building took place between 2017 and 2022. In the final phase of the project, our studio was given the opportunity to design a contemporary furniture collection for the communal areas where faithful reconstruction was not possible due to functional reasons or lack of documentation (such as the grand buffet, café, foyer, and patisserie).

Our clients were Kvarc Studio and Zoboki Design & Architecture. The architectural concept focused on restoring Ybl’s original plans, with an emphasis on the spatial qualities. Radical contemporary or postmodern gestures were to be entirely avoided, meaning our concept could not rely on creating contrast with the historical environment.

The main challenge was to design furniture that harmonizes with these spaces without becoming anachronistic—avoiding Neo-Renaissance or Neo-Renaissance-inspired forms. The solution emerged from a conceptual approach: we designed the seating elements based on formal analogies with musical instruments. Instruments, like the human body, are composed of organic shapes—which seating must also accommodate—allowing us to meet contemporary ergonomic requirements while remaining visually compatible with both the historic Neo-Renaissance environment and the present.

This allegorical approach also connects to Ybl’s own perspective, who frequently represented music symbolically in his architectural solutions and seccos, sometimes through mythological references.

At the same time, it was essential for us to evoke these references discreetly and indirectly—through scale, curvature, asymmetry, and proportions—ensuring the musical analogies remained subtle rather than overt or illustrative.