Mammut Shopping Center Kollab Space, Hungary

Paradigma Ariadné Ltd. Turning vacant shops into vibrant spaces These massive buildings quickly occupied some vacant plots in the city center. These new shopping centers shine brightly, promising a better capitalist future for societies that experienced long-term material shortages, offering unlimited consumption opportunities, especially for those societies that faced basic product scarcity after World War II. Therefore, most of these shopping centers remain lively to this day, attracting large numbers of customers. However, over time, after thirty years, these shopping centers have begun to face new challenges. Budapest’s Mammut Shopping Center is one of them, located in the heart of Budapest, near the area once known as "Moscow Square." As its name suggests, Mammut Shopping Center is enormous, but its design comes from a period when Hungarian architects were less skilled than today in designing to attract customers into a consumer maze. As a result, the third floor of Mammut is somewhat off the main customer flow, and some areas remain unrented. The management of Mammut Shopping Center decided to address this issue with a plan similar to urban management: first developing public space, hoping this development would bring positive impacts both socially and economically. Mammut decided to invite two important figures from Budapest’s cultural life to transform one of the vacant shops into a vibrant space. Tibor Remete and Adél Kovács, with rich experience in cultural creation, entertainment, and business management, excel at gathering people who can bring life to a space. Architects from Paradigma Ariadné were invited by Tibor and Adél to participate in the project, with the shared goal of providing design and spatial solutions for this new space, creating a free, public living room located on the third floor of a shopping center primarily encouraging customer consumption. This is the birth of Kollab—a place in the shopping center where people can freely spend time. In the design, the architects sought elements that could change the traditional aesthetic qualities of shopping centers. All forms and materials serve this goal. When visitors enter Kollab, they immediately feel the difference from other shopping centers. Perhaps they are not sure where they are the first time they enter, but they will certainly realize that this is not just a place to buy new electronics or trendy clothes. The wavy tables, mastaba-like (ancient Egyptian stepped tomb) display stands, rough bricks, and yellow corrugated plastic coverings inviting visitors to rest all encourage visitors to stay, relax, and participate in cultural activities. However, these elements are not only aesthetic features of the space but also functional components, serving as the backdrop for upcoming concerts, workshops, exhibitions, and theatrical performances held at Kollab.