The Danube-Ipoly National Park, an area where mountains, river valleys and plains meet in the wider surroundings of Budapest, opened a new visitor center in Pilisszentiván. The team of Építész Stúdió, the architectural firm responsible for the project, designed a public building with a distinct character, which at the same time can organically fit into the rural environment of the village and embrace a connection with the previous building.
The concept was to extend the original residential home with a casing of a wooden slat structure, which serves as a frame for the white plastered core, i.e. the existing house. Its cross-section remained in residential scale, but its length, gathering new functions, leaps to the scale of public facilities.
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On sloping terrains, the building line usually follows the angle of the slope, but here this method would have resulted in a significant difference of altitude between the two ends of the structure. Therefore, when designing the visitor center, this issue was not solved by scaling the roof, which is a traditional way to remodel long residential houses, but instead with a slight tilt in the ridge. Perhaps it is this gesture that truly makes the house a public building, while the end facades match the rural environment. The original, plastered white house is surrounded by a wooden slat shell made of larch, creating a transitional space between outside and inside. This transparency also enhances the public character of the visitor center while creating unique lights and shadows.
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The original building is also the core in terms of functionality: it houses the exhibition itself. This is complemented by a welcoming area at the entrance and an attic-style accommodation for groups of children. The outdoor area is just as important in terms of educational activities as the interior: it consists of a stage set up on the steep slope, a terrace bordered by wooden slats, an intimate upstairs terrace connected to the sleeping quarters, a summer kitchen and, of course, the long garden itself.
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Photos: Norbert Juhász
Építész Stúdió | Web | Facebook | Instagram
Danube-Ipoly Visitor Center | Facebook
Source: Építész Stúdió
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