The Reconstruction of the Town Hall, Visegrád

Architect: Tamás Bártfai
Text: Miklós Okrutay
Photos: József Hajdú

Open from the direction of the River Danube and closed towards the main street of the town, the town hall of Visegrád provides a background with its facades and those of the neighbouring buildings to the communal site: it is actually a former middle-class house in the Neo-Classicist style which has been remodelled to house the new functions. The way the project has chosen was a genuine challenge: what is value which is well worth preserving and sustaining or recalling and what should be rephrased, reinterpreted and overwritten? The original facade architecture could also have been restored in an authentic way. Architect Tamás Bártfai, however, chose the solutions offered by preservation and reinterpretation which were deeply and carefully considered but freshly implemented by using unique and characteristic means. The contemporary reinterpretation of a traditional porch, transparency as the spatial organizing principle as well as the articulation of the surfaces exert influence on the subconsciousness of observers. The row of windows with their individual rhythm, as well as the shifts of planes on the facades followed by colours to emphasise them encourage visitors to think about it. The mass of the building is widened and extended unnoticed. Visegrád made a wise choice: its present identity is a firm foundation for its future to follow its own rhythm and show the world in an authentic way what the town thinks of itself. The design of the centre of the town reflects the fact it has found its appropriate scale into which the facelifted town hall has been adjusted nicely with a loveable harmony.

Architect: Tamás Bártfai
Statics: Ernő Varga – STABIL Mérnökiroda Kft.
HVAC: Zsolt Hertelendy
Electrical engineering: Zsolt Jármai – Region Kft.
Landscape architect: Péter István Balogh PhD, DLA – s73 Tervező Iroda Kft.
Public utilities: László Széher – NOVUM Kft., Gyula Domonkos
Insulation expert: Márta Borsányi
Environmental rehabilitation: Erika Fülöp – E2 STUDIÓ Kft.
Fire protection: Pál Marjai, Attila Majoros, István Varga
Contrators: Fővárosi 2. sz. Építőipari Vállalat (2013.09.-2014.05.), HALASTÓ KFT (2015.06.-2015.11.)
Technical supervisor: László Lévay