Location: Budapest XII., Csörsz u. 18.
Planning: 2008-2010
Completion: 2011
Net floor area: 4.200 m2
Public space: 7.800 m2
General planning: Firka Architecture Studio
Architecture, interior design: Csavarga Rózsa, Sandroza Kft.
Photo: Bujnovszky Tamás, Zsitva Tibor (2011)
Related project:
Sirály Street Mixed-use Building
RECONSTRUCTION OF MOM CULTURAL CENTRE
The site is located in the centre of District XII. between Csörsz Street and Jagelló Street. The programmatic task was to integrate, renovate and develop the two functional units of the MOM Cultural Centre and the sport and leisure area of Gesztenyéskert Park.
The program can be divided into two parts: renovating and developing the Cultural Centre included, on the one hand, the restoration and the functional and areal expansion of the National Monument, and on the other hand, the integration of the yet operating organic market on the spot. The second phase was the revitalization of Sirály Street and Gesztenyéskert: the traffic was replaced by a pedestrian and event area which links the Cultural Centre and the park and covers a three-storey building. Under the pavement multi-use spaces and a two-storey parking garage was created. The program contained the renewal of the park, the extension of pedestrian connections, the facilitating of accessibility, the development of the park’s infrastructure and the reconstruction of near roads and pavements.
The Cultural Centre is one of the most significant buildings of the beginning of the second half of the 20th century. Its significance does not represent primarily an aesthetic value, rather it documents the era of its birth. The building was designed in 1950 by Károly Dávid, who stood for the modernist direction of social realism of the time. Besides preserving the architectural values the reconstruction and expansion realized remarkable functional transformations. The auditorium of the theatre is placed on a mobile floor which makes possible to convert the space occasionally into a ballroom. An open-air stage is created next to the garden, and multifunctional spaces—equipped with up-to-date technology—are formed in the club wing and in the first floor round room. The building’s outer skin is restored while interior finishes, doors and furnishings are replaced. In the garden, along the Jagelló Street a new line of pavilions was built in place of temporary constructions of the organic market.