High-tech Business Park to House Multi-national and Local Software Companies
Budapest, Hungary, July 6, 1998
On schedule and under budget,
Graphisoft® (Frankfurt Neuer Markt: GPH) relocated its headquarters on
Monday, July 6 to the new Graphisoft Park situated on the banks of the
Danube just north of central Budapest. In addition to Graphisoft, the
Park will anchor dozens of tenant software companies including Microsoft
Hungary who currently plans to occupy one building in August.
Inauguration of the Park is scheduled for mid-September after all of the
first phase tenants have moved in.
Financed entirely from the company’s pre-IPO retained earnings, the Park
will seed the development of local software companies and support
Graphisoft’s continuing growth as one of the world’s largest AEC CAD
software developers. Company president, Gabor Bojar, reports that company
revenues and profits for the second quarter of 1998 which ended June 30
are expected to be in line with the company’s internal projections and
its history of consistent growth and stable profitability. Final
results for the company’s second quarter will be available in August.
Situated on seven hectares (18 acres) of landscaped riverfront property
within the Budapest city limits, Graphisoft Park was designed by
architects Ferenc Csagoly and Ferenc Keller, Architects Studio, Ltd., as
a campus setting with brick and glass buildings recalling the site’s
industrial use earlier in the century. When complete, the park will
contain 15 low-rise office buildings totaling more than 25,000 square
meters (250,000 s.f.).
The concept of Graphisoft Park is unique in Budapest as are the methods
used to design and lease the buildings. From the earliest schematic
designs though construction drawings and marketing materials, a
three-dimensional «Virtual Building» computer model was developed and
maintained by the architects using Archicad. Using the Virtual Building,
the architects could communicate with their clients, explore design
details, improve their productivity, and deliver the animations,
renderings and virtual reality scenes needed for leasing.
«We insisted on developing and maintaining a complete 3D model from the
very beginning,» commented Graphisoft COO Peter Hornung. «The entire
company was caught up in the design process and Archicad’s visualization
tools were invaluable to getting people involved. From an operations
point of view, I think this was a huge benefit to managing our move as
smoothly as possible. I also have to stress how important the 3D model
was to leasing all of the space.»
The move from the company’s old offices dispersed among five smaller
buildings to the new facility was achieved with minimal business
interruption. Beginning Monday, July 6, the new address and telephone
numbers for Graphisoft R&D are:
Graphisoft R&D Rt.
Graphisoft Park 1 (Záhony u.)
H-1031 Budapest
Telephone: (36.1) 437 3000
Fax: (36.1) 437 3099
Graphisoft is a leading provider of computer aided design (CAD) software
solutions for the architectural profession and the building industry and
ranked by Dataquest among the largest AEC CAD software developers in the
world. Archicad is sold in more than 80 countries and 22 languages and
used by more than 45,000 architects and building professionals worldwide.
The company completed its initial public offering on the Neuer Markt
segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in June 1998.