Centrál and Örkény Theatres, Kálmán Imre Stage, Budapest

Architects: Gergely Fernezelyi (Centrál Színház), Krisztián Vincze (Örkény Színház), Budapesti Operettszínház (Kálmán Imre Teátrum)
Text: Iván Szabó-Jilek
Photos: Tamás Bujnovszky, Zsolt Batár, Iván Szabó-Jilek

The majority of the Budapest-based theatres, with the exception of the National Theatre and the Festival Theatre, are more then a century old now. It is no wonder that they need reconstructing, modernizing from time to time. The deterioration of the buildings is caused partly by their natural utilization, but it also depends on the degree and standard of their maintenance. This process is rushed by the changes of rules and laws regulating maintenance (such as new standards, fire prevention, free access), and the ever quickening pace of the development of technology – as well as the impacts of multiplex cinemas – and the rising standards of comfort requirements. However, the most typical reason for remodellings and renewals is the change of owners or maintainers, as they bring along their artistic styles and concepts. When designing modernization, it is unambiguous what the present-day wishes of the maintaner are: to open up the theatre towards the city with its projected new image. This article surveys the transformations
of three Budapest-based theatres.

Centrál Theatre

Örkény Theatre

Architect: Vincze
Interior design: Fülöp
Structure: Balázs
HVAC: Pál
Electrical engineering: Méhész
Acoustics: Andor Tamás Fürjes

Kálmán Imre Stage