The Bustard Sanctuary in Mokrin

Architect: Vilmos Tóth
Text: Anna Pecze
Photos: Vilmos Tóth

Each natural energy source is a unique phenomenon in its kind, but none of them is such an unparallelled one as the Bustard sanctuary in Mokrin. Situated in the vicinity of the village, the building housing the visitors’ centre doubles as a symbol of the sanctuary integrating features of traditional vernacular architecture. This site was once occupied by a characteristic farmstead with adobe walls and a gable graced with sunray-motifs. Known as Ökoszállás („Eco Accommodation”), the visitors’ centre and the look-out is embedded in its environment as if it had always stood there. Its design may be best characterized as a dialect of Hungarian traditional vernacular architecture spoken in a southern region of historical Hungary, whilst it is also a fact that it integrates the architectural traditions of both the peasantry and the middle-class. We may as well view it as a symbolic equivalent of of the typical peasant family house as it follows that kind of linear design. The circular external corridor appears here in a stylised form as a reception area, from where one can start out to make a tour of the whole building. The closed part of the visitors’ centre may be seen in parallel with the living area of the detached family house which is actually the soul of the building, whilst the look-out may be compared to the clean room as it is also predominated by the spectacle: it is meant to fascinate visitors with the richness of the environment.

Architect: Vilmos Tóth
Structure: Zoltán Molnár Csikós