Conversion of King St Stephen School, Budapest

Architect: Lőrinc Csernyus
Text: Balázs Váradi
Photos: Bence Csernyus

Functioning as a party centre for a long time, this complex in Zugló turned into a music school in 1994. In the mid-1990s, a gym was also added to the building, and for almost two decades there had been no serious schemes for its further development. The technical preparation for the current renovation project was launched back in 2015. In front of the main façade, the front garden, which has been converted into a resting area and was organised around preserved trees, lures passers-by not into an institution but rather into a house of music. The distinctive architectural feature of the complex, the canopy, which has been recycled as music, leaves no doubt about this condition. From the lateral garden, the addition of a barrier-free lift hints at the cross-section of the renewed main structure. The complex is composed of three main blocks and the widening spaces, interconnections and interlockings that connect them. The multiple-stage project has created loads of opportunities for the creation of transitional, function-separating spaces, which the designers have made good use of.

Client: Central Pest School District Centre
General architecture: ALFATERV-2000
Leading architect: Lőrinc Csernyus
Architects: Tibor Fülöp, Gyula Zsuppányi
Fellow architects: Roland Gál, Gábor Kanti, Bálint Kulcsár, Ivett Madár
Structure: Ferenc Madár
HVAC: József Mogyorósi †, György Németh
Power current: Sándor Fekete
Weak current: Norbert Kardos
Fire protection: Ferenc Végh
Landscape, garden: Mónika Buella
Elevator: Zsolt Makovsky
Acoustics: Zsuzsanna Alabárdos
Water public utilities: Árpád Sáfár
Solar cells: Péter Nádasdi