Zsolt: I have a family, so the “system” tells me how to start the day. I have one child, who’s just starting crèche, and that defines my schedule. In the office my weekly work schedule is determined on Mondays.
Donát: The morning rituals of my kids (aged two and a half and four) determine my morning routine.
Ákos: During the week or at the weekend? On Saturdays and Sundays, we don’t have a morning start. We start our day at noon. On weekdays, I do some sport or start the day at the office.
Zsolt: I don’t really have one favourite in any category. I listen to all kinds of music, from classical to electronic, and the style I prefer changes all the time. Depeche Mode is the only band I’ve always followed and loved.
Donát: I like all kinds of music. My taste changes constantly but there are certain kinds of music that stick.
Ákos: Kispál and Tankcsapda. [two well-known Hungarian bands]
Zsolt: It would be unfair to choose one book as my favourite. I’ve just started reading the Steve Jobs book and I often read parts of Dr Thomas Gordon’s Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.). And I really love Tranquility by Attila Bartis.
Donát: Every book I read catches my attention for a different reason. Books usually make a good impression on me and there are fragments that stick in my mind. I particularly enjoyed Solid Geometry by Ian McEwan and Doppler by Erlend Loe. I wouldn’t pick one favourite because it would seem that I prefer one over the other. But nowadays I read less as my schedule has become quite busy.
Ákos: Franny and Zooey by Salinger.
Zsolt: I’ve been to Japan and I’d love to go back.
Donát: My favourite destination on a daily basis is my home. The next in line is Pécs, my home town. If I had to choose a bigger trip, I’d travel to the former Soviet republics and then finish my round trip in, let’s say, Denmark. I’d like to visit Sweden and Norway, too. I’ve already visited all the countries in Southern Europe.
Ákos: Ski resorts are my favourite travel destinations. And nowadays Paris, where we have a project running.
Zsolt: My girlfriends cooks but we sometimes eat out, so we don’t always do the same thing.
Donát: It depends on my mood. I find it sad to eat out or eat at home alone. I have breakfast and dinner at home every day. Or, if I don’t, then we go to a restaurant.
Ákos: Either. I don’t have a preference.
Zsolt: I read the news online.
Donát: I don’t really follow the news.
Ákos: I read the news online, but I’m cutting down. I’m trying to reduce the number of items I read because I feel they have a bad influence on me and divert my attention away from important things, although of course it’s important to have an idea of what’s going on.
Zsolt: I prefer reading magazines on the Internet. I read car magazines, designboom and similar publications and Hungarian economic and political magazines.
Donát: I don’t read magazines much.
Ákos: I read magazines on the Internet and at the weekend. I browse the pictures in professional periodicals rather than reading the articles, but I try to limit the time I spend looking at these magazines. I want to pay attention to what’s going on in my mind, and don’t want all the input to interfere with my architectural work. I like it when the information I get is filtered and I don’t have to deal with a constant flow of it. I can’t focus intensely on one thing if I keep letting in everything else. I have to set aside some time for designs and I sometimes need some peace and quiet to let them develop and evolve.
Zsolt: None.
Donát: None.
Ákos: Nothing special. Shirts, jackets and jeans.
Zsolt: A particular pair of trousers. I bought it and try it on sometimes but I don’t like it for some reason.
Donát: None.
Ákos: I try to avoid extreme clothes.
Zsolt: There’s a detached house which is under construction in Budapest. It’s going to be the house of a childhood friend. Cooperation with this person was great and we had a good time working on the project. My friend took all our advice and did what we recommended.
Donát: I don’t really have a favourite project. What I like to recall is the work process. When a project starts, it’s the project as a whole that’s interesting, but later on it’s the creative process that I enjoy.
Ákos: I always have a new favourite. A few years back we designed a crèche in Törökbálint. I like that very much.
Zsolt: Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin L. Gore, Dave Gahan, Michael Schumacher and Jay Leno.
Donát: The two founders of the SANAA architectural firm: architects Sejima and Nishizawa.
Ákos: I think the people I idolised over the past 10 to 15 years are no longer idols in the same sense. They kind of ran out of steam. If I had to name someone, I’d say Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron and some Japanese architects.
Zsolt: My girlfriend and my partners at the studio, for example.
Donát: People I know in person. My father, my older brother and Zsolt and Ákos too.
Ákos: My parents. What’s certain is that I‘ve had many influences.
Zsolt: We have a lot of interns at the studio. We tell some of them that they should be more precise and focus more during work. As a generalisation it can be said that they aren’t prepared for that. It’s a cliché but I’d say that the young generation should try their best to achieve their goals. Of course there’s nothing new in that.
Donát: I wouldn’t give advice. Everybody pursues happiness and realises that others pursue it, too, and we should help others in finding happiness instead of blocking their way. Anybody who doesn’t realise that won’t get what it’s all about anyway.
Ákos: They should travel a lot, find the thing they enjoy doing and get absorbed in it.
Zsolt: No, we don’t have anything we haven’t finished. There are a lot of projects that we design that aren’t built eventually. However, we always do our part.
Donát: I don’t understand the question.
Ákos: There are a lot of projects which aren’t actually built but I don’t see them as incomplete projects.