National Széchényi Library Archive Repository, Piliscsaba

Architect: Attila Turi
Text: Eszter Dénes
Photos: György Dénes

Every industrial building has its own formal rationalism, but strict technology does not preclude a valuable, unique appearance. In our age, when industrial buildings tend to be shabby and degrade into tin-can factories that emphasise temporariness, Attila Turi sees and envisages the national library’s complex warehouse as a sacrally significant stage for the book — with emphasis is on its cultural mission. One of the peculiarities of the document collection of the National Széchényi Library (abbreviated in Hungarian as OSZK) is that it is growing year by year thanks to the compulsory copies. Archival copies cannot be discarded, they are preserved til the end of time. The primary task of the national institution is that of preservation, but it also offers researchers the opportunity to read on site in exceptional cases. A profane part of the planning task was to store thousands of tonnes of paper in a rationally managed and safe way. The architectural configuration, which can be divided into two basic elements, the spine and the book pages, which contain the history of humans, is held together by a copper spine, which also houses the mechanical equipment. The associated light-toned volume is the storage space for the books, whilst the horizontal pattern of the individual bark panels of the cladding refers to the layering of the paper sheets. The open-work brass wall of the main façade reflects the surrounding forest with its leafy structure, recalling a metamorphosis: the paper made of wood returns to its original medium in printed form as an embodiment of a higher quality.

Client: Magyar Nemzeti Vagyonkezelő
Investor: Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium
General plans: TSPC Technical Supervision and Planning Consulting Hungary, FEJÉR Tervező és Mérnökiroda
Architect responsible: Mihály Kádár – TSPC
Leading architect, designer: Attila Turi – Tectum-Art Studio
Project architect: Zoltán Parai – TSPC
Fellow architects: Bálint Terdik, Gergő Turi, Balázs Juhász, Márta Kiss, Eszter Dobó– Tectum-Art Studio; Andrea Bóta, Máté Csapó, Zsuzsanna Éhárt – TSPC
Interiors: Klaudia Tarró-Papp – TSPC
Structure: Szabolcs Fejér, Sándor Csiszár – TSPC
Underground construction: András Áment – AA4
Framework: Rita Pataky – ANDERER
HVAC: Tamás Vörös – Perfect-Plan
Electrical engineering: György Kapitor – Zone-Plan
IT, weak current: Kermann Ltd.
Fire protection: Bálint Molnár – TSPC
Fire alarm, sprinkler: Szabolcs Fábrik, István Veisse – Banktrade
Storage system: Sándor Nagy – LogPilot
Landscape: Zsófia Kedves – DNS-Építészműterem
BIM: Zoltán Szente – TSPC
Prtoject manager: Kornél Kormányos – TPSC
Main contractor: WHB Zrt+ FejérBál Zrt consortium