Modernization and Extension of the Town Museum

Architects: Tamás Karácsony, András Boór, Orsolya Kern
Text: Béla Kerékgyártó
Photos: András Boór, Tibor Gerzsenyi, Gábor Kapolka, Tamás Karácsony

Since the early 2000s, the design stage and implementation of the modernization and extension project of the Town Museum in Paks has been going on amongst changing conditions and concepts. The architectural framework is ready, including the reconstruction of the existing building as well as the construction of a new structure as well as the furnishing of new exhibition rooms and installations. The remodelling of the Deák mansion which stands in the neighbourhood made the extension of the Town Museum possible. In 2012 designers worked out a complex development concept which they also submitted to the European Union so as to receive financial support from the European Union. As it has proven to be successful, the design stage of the extension was launched by adding a new building to the existing complex structure. An important goal was to integrate and harmonize the new part with the old building. The extension also offered designers a solution to the issues of the outbuildings in the neighbourhood the firewall of which closed down the back part of the yard, and to create a space closed spatially and functionally. Designers focussed on the faculties of the terrain and the site, as well as its history, whilst preserving architectural forms and details as well as creating their follow-ups. The old building was modernized in a reconstructive way, which means relying upon results of research into history and the buildings themselves, so as to expose and show important changes in the life of the building as well as the imprints of a variety of periods. What they wanted to achieve was to present the building and its operations without rendering it a passive background, so as to integrate it into the exhibition with the representation of its own history.

Architecture, design: Karácsony Építésziroda
Architects 2001-16: Tamás Karácsony, Orsolya Kern, András Boór (-2014)
Fellow architects: Balázs Kemes-Hári (2009, 2014), Iván Patrik Kund (2014-15)
Architectural details and construction (new wing): Tibor Gerzsenyi (2014)
Technical management 2014-16: Tamás Karácsony, Orsolya Kern
Structure: Antal Ther
Electrical engineering: Ferenc Németi
Automatics: Mihály Labádi
Fire protection: Csaba Sebestyén
HVAC 1st phase: Zoltán Simon
HVAC 2nd phase: Tamás Oltvai
Heat pump: Árpád Lorberer
Exhibition installation: Zsolt Vasáros, Ágnes Eiszrich
Archeological research: László Gere
Fresco research: József Lángi
Client: Paks város Önkormányzata