Food & Friends by Westend
With the shift in consumer preferences driven by the digital age, shopping malls need to adapt. It means incorporating cutting-edge technology and redefining spaces to give customers a seamless and interesting experience that extends beyond simply purchasing products. Most importantly shopping centers must also evolve by emphasizing sustainability and eco-friendly practices more.
For Westend, a popular shopping center in the heart of Budapest, it is key to innovate and adapt by understanding the changing requirements and desires of customers. They commissioned us, humbly calling ourselves the pioneers of wooden architecture in Hungary, to implement the largest development of Westend since its opening – the revamp of the food court.
Our design team created a concept that combined the results of research into visitor expectations and the values represented by Westend, while also ensuring the highest level of compliance with ESG guidelines. Thus Food&Friends by Westend were born, functioning not only as a modern food court but also as a community space. Hello Wood also designed and created a series of unique, site-specific, accessible furniture.
The core vision of the Food&Friends by Westend was to create a nature-inspired, one-of-a-kind atmosphere with an easy flow of visitors while incorporating diverse thematic zones and cutting-edge technology. The exquisite oak furniture, crafted from wood with FSC certification, embodies a commitment to ecological balance and sustainability throughout the production process.
| Client | Westend Shopping Center, Gránit Pólus (property development) |
| Design and Build | Hello Wood Zrt. |
| Design Board | András Huszár, Péter Pozsár, Dávid Ráday, Krisztián Tóth |
| Lead Architects | András Huszár, Péter Pozsár, Viktória Simon, Gergely Sándor |
| Project Architects | Dániel Szeifert, Gábor Fülöp |
| Architects | László Mangliár, Katalin Kitti Kiss, Ádám Bedrossian, Tamás Fülöp |
| Interior Design Partner | Viador Átrium Stúdió Kft. |
| Photo & video | Bálint Jaksa |