{"id":249794,"date":"2025-02-28T16:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T21:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=canvasflow&p=249794"},"modified":"2025-03-17T17:33:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T21:33:04","slug":"sauska-tokaj-hilltop-winery-in-hungary","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/sauska-tokaj-hilltop-winery-in-hungary\/","title":{"rendered":"UFO or Winery? This Contemporary Structure Stuns In Hungary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Set amidst vineyards, the restaurant and bar are housed in a pair of limestone-clad steel-framed saucers, tilted forward and topped with green roofs, while the winemaking facilities are largely subterranean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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February 28, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Peter\u00a0Webster<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>Marc Goodwin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

UFO or Winery? This Contemporary Structure Stuns In Hungary<\/h1>\n\n\n

How do you create an attention-grabbing modern building that integrates seamlessly with its timeless rural setting as though it has always belonged there? This conundrum faced Bord Architectural Studio<\/a> and Tihany Design<\/a> when they collaborated on Sauska Tokaj, a new hilltop winery and restaurant complex near R\u00e1tka, in Hungary\u2019s UNESCO World Heritage-listed Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region. The resulting structure\u2014a pair of limestone-clad saucers\u2014is both strange and familiar, like a UFO that\u2019s just touched down or is emerging, chrysalislike, from the earth. It\u2019s almost as if the Hungarian countryside itself is giving birth to the next wave in contemporary architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNormally, you couldn\u2019t build anything here because it\u2019s a protected area,\u201d says P\u00e9ter Bord\u00e1s, principal of Bord Architectural Studio. \u201cBut somehow this particular hill isn\u2019t part of it.\u201d Searching for a building typology that minimized site impact yet realized the client\u2019s vision of a brand-enhancing, destination-worthy landmark, the architect rejected working in the vernacular as \u201cfake.\u201d Instead, he turned to the sphere as a structural form that requires minimal contact with the ground or can even seem to float above it. He cut off the sphere\u2019s top and bottom caps and placed them on the ridge. Slightly overlapping, the steel-framed, limestone-clad bowls, each 118 feet in diameter, are gently tilted to follow the slope of the hillside, from which they survey the landscape like a pair of benevolent eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the Design of Sauska Tokaj, a Hilltop Winery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In R\u00e1tka, Hungary, a curved canopy overhangs the entrance to the res\u00adtaurant and bar at the rear of Sauska Tokaj, a winery by Bord Architectural Studio and Tihany Design.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The architecturally iconoclastic, two-level winery breaks regional precedent in other ways, too. \u201cWe had to accommodate hospitality functions\u2014a restaurant and bar\u2014which have never really existed in this area,\u201d Bord\u00e1s continues. Nor has the kind of large-scale industrial production the facility supports. \u201cYou don\u2019t see any \u2018factories\u2019 here because, traditionally, the region\u2019s winemakers dig small cellars and put the aging barrels there.\u201d Following that artisanal model, the architect has buried all the viticulture works and equipment either directly beneath the bowls or in the hillside behind them. Only the fermentation areas, with tall stainless-steel tanks encircling rows of oak wine casks, are visible through the glazed gap between the building\u2019s spherical undersides and the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The twin bowls house the restaurant, bar, and dining terraces. Together with the reception area and a tasting room\u2014about a quarter of the 63,000-square-foot winery\u2014they were outfitted by Tihany Design. The client, familiar with the firm\u2019s work in Hungary and elsewhere, approached now-retired founder and Interior Design<\/em> Hall of Fame member Adam D. Tihany<\/a>, who initiated the project and remained involved throughout, working closely with new owner and principal Alessia Genova. She\u2019s the first to admit that the intersecting cup shapes of the two major volumes with their sloping walls presented a challenge. \u201cWe needed to be respectful of Peter\u2019s unique architectural vision,\u201d she says, \u201ccreating an interior that complements the exterior while also providing a warm restaurant ambience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Backed by a sunken garden, the custom oak reception desk\u2019s biomorphic form echoes the curves of the building.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How Biophilic Elements Inform Sauska Tokaj<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One issue was that the entry and reception area are located at the rear, so arriving patrons don\u2019t see the structure\u2019s sculptural form, which is mostly hidden by the crest of the hill. It\u2019s not until they pass through a skylit tunnel and reach the restaurant itself that they get to experience the building\u2019s complex curves, though the sweeping arc of the forecourt canopy hints at things to come. So does the custom oak reception desk, a massive biomorphic form that not only echoes the architecture but also recalls, as Genova notes, \u201cthe hills of Tokaj as well as the wood barrels and other organic elements that go into winemaking.\u201d Behind the desk, a glass-enclosed, sunken garden brings in natural light and offers a view into the tasting room beyond, one of the few orthogonal spaces in the hospitality area. At the end of the restaurant tunnel, immediately before the ma\u00eetre d\u2019 station, a curving staircase leads down to the fermentation areas, the only section of the winemaking facilities that is accessible to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dining area spills across both bowls, each boasting a large hemispherical terrace for eating, lounging, and taking in the vineyard-dotted panorama. Near the entrance, the wine bar exemplifies Genova\u2019s response to the spaces\u2019 curvilinear geometrics. A marble-topped horseshoe faced in oak, the stool-lined counter curls beneath an illuminated tubular ceiling fixture with an integrated stainless-steel wineglass rack. This striking element not only anchors the bar but also acts as a node from which deep track-lighting grooves radiate like a sunburst\u2014a dynamic feature that, the designer observes, \u201ccreates the same dramatic effect you get on the outside of the building on the inside, while putting a focus on the glasses and the bar, attracting people to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beneath a curving soffit, the open kitchen dominates one of the restaurant saucers, where flooring is either limestone or stained oak, as it is throughout.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An open kitchen\u2014similar to the bar in form, materials, and space-orchestrating function\u2014dominates the second dining area. Walnut fluting encases the steel structural columns, introducing a note that harmonizes classical refinement with rustic warmth. The same wood, which Genova describes as \u201csoft to the touch, velvety,\u201d is used throughout for millwork and furniture. The plaster-finished walls share an equivalent silky tactility and are rendered in the palest green, a delicate hue echoed in the napkins and other details. By contrast, the custom bronze-and-alabaster sconces punctuating the rooms are anything but reticent. Resembling tiny flying saucers, the captivating fixtures could almost be the offspring of the mother ship that shelters them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Winery by Tihany Design Looks Straight Out of a Sci-Fi Dream<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Set amidst vineyards, the restaurant and bar are housed in a pair of limestone-clad steel-framed saucers, tilted forward and topped with green roofs, while the winemaking facilities are largely subterranean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Naturally lit via\nthe glazed gap between the saucer\u2019s underside\nand the ground, a fermentation area\u2019s oak\nbarrels are encircled by stainless-steel tanks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Viewed from reception across the garden, the wine-tasting room is out\u00adfitted with This Weber\u2019s stackable Camden chairs and Gabriel Hendifar\u2019s Lariat sconces.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The sunken garden provides daylight to reception and adjacent subter\u00adra\u00adnean spaces.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sauska Tokaj Glows After Dark<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The other saucer includes the horseshoe bar, above which track-lighting grooves radiate from an illuminated fixture incorporating a stainless-steel wineglass rack.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In the restaurant, steel columns clad in walnut flut\u00ading frame a high table and stools over\u00adlooked by a custom sconce.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dining terraces front both saucers, which appear to float above the landscape when their undersides are illuminated and the fermentation areas glow lanternlike after dark.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BORD ARCHITECTURAL STUDIO:<\/strong> CSILLA KRACKER; ROBERT GY\u00d6RGY BENKE; FRUZSINA DAM\u00c1SDI; R\u00d3BERT GULY\u00c1S; \u00c1GOTA MELINDA KERESZTESI-ANGI; ANDR\u00c1S K\u00c9KI; BAL\u00c1ZS M\u00d3SER; GY\u00d6RGYI P\u00dcSP\u00d6KI; TAM\u00c1S TOLVAJ; KATA ZIH. TIHANY DESIGN:<\/strong> ADAM D. TIHANY; MARCO BARONE. CRISTINA MENOTTI:<\/strong> GRAPHICS\/BRANDING CONSULTANT. JVL STUDIO:<\/strong> LIGHTING CONSULTANT. HYDRASTAT:<\/strong> STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. BORD HVAC ENGINEERING:<\/strong> MEP. ARTDOT:<\/strong> MILLWORK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ERTL B\u00daTOR:<\/strong> CUSTOM DESK (RECEPTION). ARTISAN:<\/strong> STOOLS (RESTAURANT, BAR), CHAIRS (RESTAURANT). PORADA:<\/strong> CUSTOM TABLES (RESTAURANT). VERY WOOD:<\/strong> HIGH TABLE (RESTAURANT), CHAIRS (TASTING ROOM). UNOPI\u00d9:<\/strong> CHAIRS, TABLES (TERRACES). VERASCHIN:<\/strong> CIRCULAR SOFAS. CASAMANCE:<\/strong> SEATING UPHOLSTERY. TUUCI: UMBRELLAS. ATELIER VIERKANT:<\/strong> PLANTERS. APPARATUS:<\/strong> SCONCES (TASTING ROOM). THROUGHOUT<\/strong> FOGLIZZO 1921; MOORE & GILES:<\/strong> LEATHER UPHOLSTERY. GC:<\/strong> PAINT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n