Alsóörs Harbor and Club

Connecting to the coastline of the new harbor, we designed a well-structured, sailboat club and hotel complex integrated into the landscape in Alsóörs. The municipality and the investor set the goal of developing an exemplary project that, with its harmonious design with the surroundings, can serve as a model for other developments along the Balaton shore. Our studio proposed an exciting two-level waterfront concept for this purpose.

The structure of Alsóörs was shaped mostly by its topographical and hydrological features. The former old town with its narrow, winding streets and distinctive red sandstone retaining walls was established a bit further away from the coast, right on the side of Somló Hill. Here, you can find the Reformed Church and the Turkish House, which is also a symbol of Alsóörs. The current city centre was created in the middle of the 20th century, with the development of the area between the Old Town and the lake shore. The appearance of the railway on the north and the adjacent main road supported this process a great deal. There is a post office, a cultural house, a municipality building and a primary school in the new centre, which is surrounded by residential and holiday areas. Tourism plays a significant part in the life of this holiday town. Right along the coastline there is a harbor, a beach, a sport club, a hotel and a camping. The long term aim of the municipality is to create a promenade parallel with the shore, where cafés, restaurants and shops connect the different functions, making the coastal areas more enjoyable and liveable.

Along the shores of Lake Balaton, larger, open, contiguous development areas are generally rare. One such treasure is the Szerdahely Bay, which is only a 20-minute walk from the Alsóörs beach. Here, alongside a camping site and a newly constructed residential area, the municipality encourages projects that harmonize with the landscape and are accessible to visitors. The establishment of a new sailboat harbor and related services, such as a hotel and restaurant, would not only be attractive to sailors but could also become a new, exciting destination for holiday makers.

In our concept, taking advantage of the sloping plot, we envisioned a two level waterfront system, where the top part connects to the arrival area of the hotel and the bottom part links with the harbor. We positioned the hotel building, which comprises of more lower scale units, on this foundation connecting the different masses of the buildings below ground level. Our vision aimed at creating a user friendly, human-scale environment while establishing exciting new spaces on the lake side.

The main building seamlessly aligns with the Y-shaped harbor from the east. On the ground floor, you’ll find the hotel’s entrance, reception, lobby, lounge, and restaurant areas, enclosed with glass walls. From the restaurant terrace there is a panorama of the entire marina, where you can walk down via an outdoor staircase. On the harbor level, in addition to the hotel’s conference room, there is another restaurant with its own terrace connecting to the pier. The smaller masses above the ground floor of the main building house hotel rooms.

On the other side of the harbor there are two other, two-floor building masses on the coastline with hotel rooms and different marine functions. The club building, which is the centre of sailing life is also here and there is a third restaurant with a full view of the harbor.

The articulated complex of buildings, which follow the shoreline, seamlessly blend into the landscape, since only the smaller masses are visible above the surface. Nevertheless, the functions work well because the individual above-ground, separated building components can connect to each other on the integrated marina level.