The City Council of Budaörs called for proposals for the town hall extention in 2003. The competition was evaluated by a delegation from the Chamber of Arhitects who awarded László Kalmár and Zsolt Zsuffa (ZSK Architects) with the 1st prize. The office prepared the final construction plans in the next five months and the house was built between 2004 and 2005. The complete building – to fit in the budget - became one level lower compared to the original competition plans, so the project area was finally reduced from 9000 m² to 7500 m².
- architects in charge: Kalmár László, Zsuffa Zsolt - ZsK Architects
collaborating architects: Gábor NAGY, Ankió NYÉKI, Szilvia REHUS, Marianna SZŐKE, Dániel VERMES, Norbert VILLÁNYI
- year of design/construction: 2003/2004-2005
- photography: © Tamás BUJNOVSZKY, Zsolt ZSUFA
- → see the building on the map "hungarian archtecture"!
The building is defined by the image of the nearby Odvas hill’s (limestone) sight. The stone cladding and the shape of the building also refers to that.
In the spatial organization the most important influential factor was that the main entrance should benext to a busy junction and the city demanded an event space behind the town hall which can be a public park during the day. The architects divided the external garden from the crowded street with a row of pillars, that’s how this unpleasant situation was solved. Above the foyer there is a double hight council-chamber to which the the top trier of corridors can be opened as a gallery. One of the facades facing the courtyard opens up towards the park behind the building.
The windows of different width on the first three floor are deep inside the widht of the wall, while the ones on the top level are aout in the surface of the stone cladding.
The designers of the building got many prizes for the City Hall: they won Pest County's Architectural Award in 2006 and the Pro Arcitectura Award in 2007. In the same year the City Hall of Budaörs became the "Wheelchair Accessible Building of the Year"; the designers got the Ybl-Award as well in 2010.
The City Hall of Budaörs is more than an average town hall. The administration works smoothly and at the same time the building gives place to concerts, exhibitions, events, cafes.
translation: Rita DOLMÁNY
Publications in English:
internet:
- Budaörs Town Hall - the result of the national competition - in: Építészfórum, 2003. december 15. (in Hungarian)
- Emiel Lamers: Town Hall, Budaörs - in: nextroom.at, from: A10, 10.03.2006;
printed:
Data:
- client: Budaörs Municipality
- scale: 7100 m2
Awards:
- 2006: Pest County's Architectural Award,
- 2007: Pro Arcitectura Award
- 2007: "Wheelchair Accessible Building of the Year";
