Liget Center Auditorium, Former MÉMOSZ Headquarters, Budapest

Architects: Zoltán Király, Zoltán Bozsik
Text: Tamás Kiss
Photos: György Palkó

As the zeitgeist continues to change steadily, so does our perception of the values of buildings that fit well into the currents of contemporary architecture. One of the iconic monuments of Hungarian architectural history after World War II is the MÉMOSZ headquarters building, constructed between 1946 and 1950, which was granted a listed status back in 1999. The former headquarters and the adjacent congress building have now been partially renovated with a change of functions. The two separate parts of the structure were designed to contain the RTL media company: the six-storey office building could accommodate office functions, while the congress block was used for editorial and content production work-flows associated with news production.
The design programme had a complex and comprehensive objective: to use the existing buildings in a way that would fully meet the needs arising from the complexity of functions. The high technical requirements expected of studios, ensuring the smooth running of parallely working office work-flows, were as important as considerations of energy, sustainability and mechanical engineering. At the same time, reversible adaptations could be made in a way that was acceptable for heritage conservation, while preserving and restoring the heritage assets.

Client: WING Real Estate Development
General planning: TIBA Architectural Studio
Lead architects: Zoltán Király, Zoltán Bozsik
Fellow architects: Zita Csányi, Veronika Hajas, Juli Kéri, Zsófia Miklós, Kíra Miljanovits, Georgina Szenes, Tünde Tóth, Zoltán Virágh
Project management: Sándor Somlyódi – Tomlin Ltd.
Interiors: TIBA Architectural Studio (Shell & Core), Linda Erdélyi – LAB5 Kft. (rental area)
Structure: Péter Markovits, Pál Bécser – M.T.M. Markovits Consulting
HVAC: Gábor Szigyártó, György Pernyész, Attila Pitkó – SMG-SISU Budapest
Electrical engineering: György Kapitor, Zsolt Aranyos – Zone-Plan
Landscape: Péter István Balogh PhD †, József Major, Krisztina Bálint – S73
Environment protection: Attila Bakos – KörIM
Acoustics: Ervin Kanász-Szabó – Akusztika Engineering
Fire protection: Béla Nagy, Gabriella Pukánszky – Flamma Contra
Framework: Balázs Higi – H-design Architects
Restoration: András Seres, Alexandra Tóth, Eszter Bakonyi, Gyula Csáky – MentArtis
Traffic: János Szegő – Közlekedés Ltd.