As part of a huge revamp of the Central European University, Irish architecture firm O'Donnell + Tuomey has added a new limestone-clad building to a street in downtown Budapest.

The firm led by architects Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey is completely overhauling the graduate school, with a masterplan that involves linking up historic structures and courtyards with new limestone-clad buildings.
To do this, the team have adopted a "surgical strategy" of removing unnecessary structures, adding roofs over courtyards, and creating new connections between existing buildings.

"We proposed a phased strategy, making connections between existing courtyards, demolishing inefficient buildings and designing new buildings around a series of courts," explained the studio. "Courtyards are roofed over to provide a tempered environment from the climatic extremes in winter and summer," it added. "The courtyards are the campus, providing circulation system and social space."

For the first phase, which is the only part completed so far, the architects have revamped one of the university's buildings and added another alongside it.
The new building is designed to give the campus a new focal entrance. It features a limestone facade, patterned by small rectangular perforations, and broken up by a grid of contemporary glazing.

"The contemporary expression of the new building at Nador 15 is designed to be in sympathetic conversation with i...