Mammut Mall

In Budapest, Hungary, Mammut Mall is a destination at the heart of Buda’s downtown.

Mammut Mall and its site

Budapest has been a vibrant city for thousands of years, and the importance of this particular city has never diminished. When the idea came about for the mall, the city was not in drastic need of a new mall to revitalize the area, in the way MacArthur Center was needed in Norfolk. Budapest is a large urban area with Buda one on side of the river, an Pest on the other. Both sides already had vibrant retail, so the idea of Mammut Mall was just to expand on the existing retail. The first sections (Mammut I) was opened in 1998 (the L-shape piece) and the new expansion (Mammut II) was built in 2001 (the square shaped piece).

This mall takes the idea of one-stop shopping to a whole new level. Everything is located here, from daily life needs, to items for work and play. The program includes a movie theatre, grocery store, farmers market, restaurants, food court, cafes, gym, clubs and bars, bowling alley, retail, commercial offices, and parking garages.

Programmatic plans

Mammut I, the L-shaped piece, has a parking garage in the back section. The front section is mostly retail on all the levels, with restaurants and some entertainment. Each floor has its own unique hallway configuration.

Pathways

Most floors have hallways that act as never ending paths, with no dead ends as they keep winding in and around stores. Since all of these hallways are so different, there are no openings to see the other levels vertically. Mammut II is the opposite. There is a main vertical void that is a centeral core for all six levels. Even though the particulars of each hallway are somewhat different, they wrap around this central core. Smaller hallway arms extend out from this center in all directions. In this section of the mall, the retail is the bottom few floors, but the floors above are delegated with their own individual programs on each level.