Open-air Stage, Bükkszentkereszt

Architect: Miklós Salamin
Text: Enikő Harmath-Gyetvay
Photos: Miklós Salamin

Bükkszentkereszt, a village nestling in a valley surrounded by mountains, is the second highest settlement in the country. In the 2020s, several open-air stages were built in the neighbouring villages with the help of grant funding to respond to real needs. The building in Bükkszentkereszt fits into this development. The sculpturesque structure is connected to three asphalted plateaux on a sloping lot facing southeast next to the main road, thus hiding behind a row of houses due to the terrain. The designer’s basic concept is that a stage as a structure is by no means a house in the traditional sense of the word, but rather a pavilion-like, open-air space cover. This idea, combined with the client’s requirements, resulted in a symmetrical, low-pitched roof, a lively animated building with slanting planes that lean “outward” in the direction of the slope and parking lots, which, when viewed from the front, provide a framework for the view of the mountaineous Bükk landscape or the events taking place on stage with its prominent wooden supports. The stage consists of two almost independent components: the reinforced concrete substructure, partly sunk below ground level, that houses the performers’ dressing rooms and the public toilets, crowned by a wooden roof structure covered with a dark palette of metal sheets. On the rear surface of the roof, timber columns divide the landscape, creating a frame for receiving and recording the independent background of events taking place at the venue.

Client: Municipality of Bükkszentkereszt
Architect: Miklós Salamin – AXIS
Structure: Tamás Erdélyi
HVAC: Zsolt Szilágyi – Energo-Tallér
Electrical engineering: Gábor Münnich – Fényesvölgy Ltd.
Public utilities:  Barbara Nádasi – Top Hand