Foliage Education Trail, Pannonhalma

Architect: Péter Szabó
Text: Anett Mizsei
Photos: Balázs Danyi

Supported by steel struts and columns, it “floats” with a dynamic sweep in the sea of foliages among the trees of the parkland. Although it is not a lookout in the ordinary sense of the word, it offers new prospects and views to visitors. The hillside of Pannonhalma has been enriched with a new structure recently: near the former lookout a foliage education trail has been built. The loop balancing on the edge of the cliff does not seek for contact with the lookout formally, and yet does not ambition to separate itself from it either. They share their materials and colours, which is more than enough to create a harmony between them. The tracery and lineage evolves like a piece of land-art from the hillside when we walk beneath. Its two branches bravely pass above each other so as to meet again at the apex of the composition. The structure of the trail is made up of a steel frame: white steel columns with a circular cross-section support the edifice high up with a lower belt lying on diagonal ribs made of a steel tube. Visitors are surrounded by timber and wooden surfaces with the exception of the “eye” of the fish, from where we can have an insight into the depth of the forest through the tread-grille from a dizzying height. The two arches are “sewn” together with thin steel ropes.

General plans: Okka Építésziroda
Leading architect: Péter Szabó
Architects: Sándor Nemes, Kitti Kódor, Renáta Orova, Gellért Simon
Structure: Levente Mihucz, Gábor Kepe, Anna Nagy – Mi.V. Mérnökiroda
Fire protecion: József Hochrein