A+A Stúdió Ltd.

1026 Budapest, Sodrás utca 10/b
Ferenc Annus, Senior Architect
Mobile : +36 30 919 7923
Tel/ fax: +36 1 784 4987
E-mail: ferenc.annus1@gmail.com
www.aastudio.hu

A+A Studio Ltd.was founded in 1992 as a family business. The founders were Marina Annus and Ferenc Annus both architect designers. Since Ferenc Annus returned from the United States, where he worked for three years as architect designer he started to lead the company as general manager and architect designer and still does it till today. During the years the number of employees followed the actual work load. The current group of designers has been working together for a number of years.

Main activity

Architectural and engineering services, such as design, construction management and cost control. The design work usually starts at the first site visit and lasts till the occupation permit of the new building. We have a complex, reliable design team for this long process. Usually the architect is responsible for the coordination of each design discipline as: structural, mechanical, electrical, public utilities, landscape, road engineering and other specialists of infrastructure. The long term cooperation of almost 20 years of our team guarantees an efficient professional working relationship.

Design process

The work starts with listening to the construction needs of the client. We have to fully understand the needs of the client, to be able to comply with local regulations and give advice on its feasibility. A preliminary design phase will start after this, with schematic sketches, options. When the final decision was made based on these variations, the building permit documents have to be made. This is the binding version for construction. Before the contractor will be selected, a detailed tender documents set or a construction documents set has to be made. These documents include all the necessary information, specification of materials from each design areas. This will provide enough information for the contractor.

If requested we can participate in this evaluation process, giving technical advice to help the client in decision making. After the contractor starts working we usually provide technical inspection on behalf of the designers during the entire construction period. Usually it is a site visit on a weekly basis. In this way we can provide a maximum guarantee for the quality of the final product. When the building is ready we also prepare an as-built documents set for the archive.

Other tasks

The designer represents the client at the local authorities, architectural juries. He gives technical advice, recommendations to the client to protect his interest during the entire process. The preliminary negotiations are very important parts of the architect's activity. If the preliminary negotiations are conducted in a professional manner, this will also smooth all of the approval process later on. The most important local authorities are the fire department, health and safety department, historical landmark authorities. Good communication of the project with them is a key issue.

References

Our office has a long reference list of each building types such as residential, industrial and public buildings. The size of these projects varies on a wide range. We present mostly the realized projects on this list, although the competitions or the not realized projects are also important parts of our daily work. Some references are joint references with former partner firms. >>>

Liability insurance

Our office has been active on the field of construction design business for almost 20 years. A general liability insurance coverage helps its activities. In case of major projects we usually adjust a special coverage to increase our safety exclusively. We are proud that during these 20 years we never had to activate this insurance or deal with liability issues.

Returning clients, customer satisfaction

We are proud of our following returning clients:

• American International School of Budapest
• British International School of Budapest
• U.S. Embassy- General Services Office

These demanding clients represent for us the confidence and satisfaction in our daily work.

We always had and still have a correct business relationship with them.

During our work we often met with other clients of different nations. We made successful design works for French, British, American, German, Dutch investors. We never had any serious language problems with them. Usually, we prepare bilingual documents for foreign clients, in such cases. Besides the foreign companies, we also provide the same service for our local, Hungarian clients. We always try to maintain the same level of design, in order to find the most adequate answers to the design challenges. Our basic aim is to find both, the best aesthetic and economic solutions.

Licence for design, membership in professional organizations

For the architectural and engineering design services, we obtained all the necessary local qualifications and licences.

We are active members of the Chamber of Hungarian Architects and the Chamber of Hungarian Engineers.

Publicity, other activities

Our colleagues regularly attend international seminars, conferences and study trips to enhance their professional knowledge. Our office won the FIABCI award of excellence in property development in 2001. Several projects of the office were published in leading local architectural magazines such as: Octogon, Atrium, Magyar Epitomuveszet.

Our colleagues take part in the BME University education, as consultant lecturers at different Departments of Architectural Faculty or diploma juries.