The Reconstruction of the National Equestrian Centre

Architect: Péter Kis, Alfréd Peschka, Ákos Dobrányi
Text: Miklós Okrutay
Photos: Zsolt Batár

The fate of the National Equestrian Centre had been uncertain for a long time, up until 2011, when it was rated as a historic building to be protected. The complex now reborn opens up with a refreshing vitality to welcome visitors. The composition was built with a sort of instinctive improvisation originally in 1932, and was later completed with further buildings to evoke the cour d’honneurs of castle gardens. As a result of its current reconstruction, Tattersall is not only outlined as a purely functional complex, but also an organic unit in architectural and aesthetic sense, which has the capacity to convincingly mediate the fact that this century-old stronghold of horse racing has deserved to have a final site in this neighbourhood directly connecting to the city centre. Every function the structure may carry has found its place before, so now it was time to create an integrated complex of them that can breathe as one. The architects has found a light and simple means to do so: by extending the row of stables he designed an office and auditorium zone, and the series of vertical timber components on the facade applied at the lateral extension of the huge roofed hall has proven enough to create the desired harmony. The secondary facade plane thus created can remain transparent whilst allowing behind it for an open space to open up, much in the same way as the interiors can reveal themselves through the glass expanses.

General design: Plant Atelier Peter Kis
Authorization plan, general design: Alfréd Peschka – Óbuda Építész Stúdió Kft.
Authorization plan, leading architect: Ákos Dobrányi
Structure: Skenderija Dejan – Óbuda Építész Stúdió Kft.
HVAC: Zoltán Sztasák – Budafok Consult Tervező Kft.
Electrical engineering: Csaba Gali – Gemini-Plan Bt.
Monument preservation: Judit Gömöry – TECHROAD Kft.
Structure: Sándor Horváth – Pataki és Horváth Kft.
Environment: Tamás Nagy – DENKSTATT Hungary Kft.
Public utilities: Géza Hobl – Közműterv 2006 Kft.
Traffic: Zsuzsanna Ötvös – Óbuda Építész Stúdió Kft.
Client: Vidékfejlesztési Minisztérium