Oncoradiology Centre, Debrecen

Architect: Péter Kovács
Text: András Bán
Photos: Tamás Bujnovszky

Both the city and university of Debrecen appreciate local talents, thus it was not the first commission that Péter Kovács received in the campus project. When designing the Oncoradiology Centre he had to consider the former character of the campus of the Medical University as much as possible, including the positioning of the two-storey pavilions strung along axes. However, he also had to comply with the technological discipline dictated by the new equipment. The white building is cut into two by a longitudinal axis, one half of which conceals the concrete blocks of the accelerator and the rooms for treatment and medication associated with it, whilst the other functions as a hospital and hospice. Its closed character refers to its present function, the hospital section features lanes of windows turning to each other instead of facing the neighbouring parkland, the passages between the hospital wards and the terraces remain invisible when viewed from the street, the section housing radiology has no windows at all. The waiting room for patients is primarily lit by natural light through the wide glass lane above it. Even more serious is the design of the vertically articulated walls of the fourth facade behind which the beam accelerators are. The whole site of medical treatment abounds in symbols. It features a hidden maze in its heart composed in minimalist architectural forms, which leads on to death or rebirth, the rooms of radiotherapy.

Architect: Péter Kovács DLA
Medical technology: János Kerese
Interior design: György Frank, Balázs Tatár
Structure: Zsigmond Dezső
HVAC: Imre Nagy
Electrical engineering: Zsolt Nagy
Public utilities: Gyula Bodnár
Traffic: László Tarcsai
Environment: Tamás Sándor