Monarchy Barracks Converted into BCE Campus, Székesfehérvár

Architects: Emese Kalo, Eszter Szabó, József Pásztor
Text: Zorán Vukoszávlyev PhD
Photos: Balázs Danyi

Right next to the most densely populated district of Székesfehérvár, there are the buildings of the former barracks set in a military order. From the direction of the main road, building „A” has been facelifted by the former owner as a facility for education, which serves as a kind of basic formula for the further development of the Corvinus University campus. The premises of the university has been developed into a smart education centre in harmony with the existing scales and dimensions. The library and a minor auditorium suited for a smaller community of students are contained beneath the newly laid roof. This building breaks through the original historical geometry at two points: the terraced auditorium on the ground floor is sunk with a ramp towards the ground level of the terrain and the interior of the central axis also had to be restructured. What actually happened was a most natural process: the house provided what it physically could, and the architect did what was possible ethically, whilst the client was well aware of what potentials the house would have, and commissioned a professional team of architects to manage the project itself. All this was conducted by an interior design executed with soldierly order and logic: wherever it was necessary, high-standard materials have been used, and high-quality education technology equipment was installed in all the halls, whilst the practical and high-standard furniture is matched with surfaces integrating the technology with excellent execution. What we can see here is a systematic, smartly modest and well-proportioned, modifiable reuse at work.

Architects: Emese Kalo, Eszter Szabó, József Pásztor – Építész Kaláka
Interiors: András Göde, Balázs Kéry
Structure: Gergely Facskó
HVAC: Péter Erhardt
Electrical engineering: Ferenc Rajkai