The cloister of the Sisters of Holy Cross stands out with its Neo-Gothic Romantic façade among the buildings in Városmajor utca. It was originally built as a residential building in the middle of the 19th century, but as it was reconstructed several times over the centuries, its proportions were upset. The sisters moving in started to use it as a nunnery, which made a full reconstruction necessary. At the beginning of the design process, we had to raise and then answer three seemingly simple questions: what to think about the values of the building as a historic monument, how to extend it, and what to think about the relationship between the first two issues and the environment. Considering all of these these aspects, we strived to free the building of the superfluous elements added to it during the course of time and to fulfil its values by restoring its historical parts and adding contemporary elements. Two versions of designs were created: in the first version, we placed these contemporary additional elements as a continuation of the second line of buildings characteristic of this neighbourhood, also referring to the topos of a classical cloister garden. However, the new part of the building is placed above the ground, which further maintains a dominant connection with the back garden. The second version preserves the original U-shape of the building. The two new wings have a sculpture-like representation.
