MAGtár Events Hall, Alsóbogát

Architect: Miklós M. Miltényi
Text: Anna Szövényi
Photos: Tamás Bujnovszky

Alsóbogát is a tiny village halfway between Kaposvár and Lake Balaton, and yet it has a history of a millennium and also has two castles. One of them, referred to as the Festetics-Inkey castle has an estate of significant size, a fishpond and outbuildings. This complex and the property have found their competent user, much in the same way as their new owner found an empathetic designer. The event hall of MAGtár (granary) is the very first, highly successful achievement of their cooperation. The designer preserved and used the existing architectural components, and inserted the new function in the simple and yet sweepingly dynamic space of the structure. The relatively dark interior is lit by a low-inclination glass roof with thermal insulation seated on a concrete crown, which integrates the existing towering remains of the walls. The roofing is not only new but also progressive: the glass roof shadowed by solar panels provides light and also generates energy. The roofing constructed from the remaining beams of the granary, and now there is a gallery level that wraps around to function as a corridor that reveals the lines of the former roofing and creating a permeable gallery.

Leading architect: Miklós M. Miltényi
Fellow architects and experts: Attila Balogh, Katalin Iványi, András Reith dr, Emese Virt, Balázs Zólyomi