Nivegy House, Balatoncsicsó

Architects: Zsolt Félix, Richárd Hőnich, Tamás Fialovszky
Text: Tamás Kiss
Photos: Gergely Máté Oláh

The unique spirit of the Upper-Balaton region is a result of its natural faculties, as well as the rich cultural blend evolving in its wake. The village of Balatoncsicsó is set in Nivegy Valley, and has a Catholic parsonage built in 1799 after the start of the local community in 1754. The building has been extended and remodelled several times since then. It has stood vacant in the past 30 years and was thus badly deteriorating. The local community recognized the potentials and significance of saving the house and equipping it with new functions, and thus created a concept, which served as a leitmotif for the design process started later on. In 2014 a novelty heritage management programme provided framework for the projected transformations. During the reconstruction stage of the historic building, which was exemplary, an active involvement of the local community into the design stage was a priority. We can enter the house via the porch graced with a lattice and wooden carvings evoking the early 1900s. Arriving in the former hall, which is a spacious whitewashed room, with a strong contrast of auburn framed openings and doors, whilst the floor is tiled with contemporary patterned cement tiling. In the heart of the building there is a room preserving 19th-century conditions with a richly decorated glazed ceramic stove, completed with the colourful decorative painting bordered with undulating ornaments on the vaults. All this makes it probably the most atmospheric room in the house. In Balatoncsicsó hope and trust in the future as well as the recognition of the past contributed to the successful salvage of a piece of material and spiritual history.

General design: Építész Stúdió Kft.
Leading architects: Zsolt Félix, Richárd Hőnich, Tamás Fialovszky
Structure: Bottyán Pataki
HVAC: László Csapliczky
Electrical engineering: Árpád Szabó
Landscape: Borbála Gyüre
Fire protection: Antal Bársony
Client: Nivegy-völgyi Római Katolikus Egyházközségért Alapítvány