Lutheran Community House, Szandaszőlős

Architect: Gábro Sajtos
Text: Sándor Csontó
Photos: József Hajdú

It is great pleasure that the number of buildings hosting the social and educational functions of various religious communities in Hungary has increased since the change of the political system to such an extent. The most recent of them is the belfry of the Community House of the Calvinist Church in Szandaszőlős in the region of Szolnok. Consecrated on the 14th of October, 2012 this structure is part of a complex planned to embrace three individual units: the church, the belfry and the community house also including the parsonage. This three-fold complex is clearly articulated into three units that however, come to unite integrally and inseparably. The first phase saw the construction of the community house and the belfry. The exemplary design is both purposeful and clear, without ambitioning to present itself as if more than what it actually is, and it still has a lot to tell us. The unique spatial and mass formation simultaneously evokes the archetypes of well-to-do peasants’ farmhouses and the fort-like churches of Transylvania.

Design: SAGRA Építész Kft.
Leading architect: Gábor Sajtos
Fellow architects: Gabriella Grand, András Páll, Péter Virág, Regina Németh
Structure: Csaba Horváth
Technical installations: Zsolt Almási, György Kurunczi
Electrical engineering: Lukács Gombás
Client: Szolnoki Református Egyházközség