TWO OF KÖZTI’S PROJECTS WON INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE AWARDS – BOTH THE BALATONFÜRED CONGRESS CENTER AND THE VESZPREM GREEN CITY PROJECT WERE AWARDED IN THEIR CATEGORIES

The BIG SEE award has been founded by Zavod Big, a foundation based in Ljubljana; the SEE abbreviation refers to South-East Europe. The purpose of the award is to present and acknowledge excellent results and creations in the fields of architecture, interior design and creative industrial design. Over the years, the BIG SEE Architecture Award has grown into a major architectural award in Central Europe, well representing the creative potential of the region.

The Balatonfüred Congress Center won in the category of cultural buildings. The exterior of the up-to-date, transparent building designed by KÖZTI is dominated by three materials: glass, stone, and plants, which cover the ‘fifth facade’, the green roof. The latter is one of the unique features of the building, facilitating its blending into the environment. The Balatonfüred Congress Center makes Balatonfüred the capital of conference tourism in the Lake Balaton region. The spectacular building hosts large-scale events and also serves as a conference center and exhibition space. The ground floor area of the building is more than 3000 square meters, the lobby and the flexibly connected 380 square meter exhibition area are located here. The two halls can be connected, so the ground floor can accommodate larger events as well. Opening from the exhibition space, there are two more halls for 60 and 110 people, which can also be connected. On the first floor of the building, there are four section rooms that can be separated from each other by mobile walls. The impressive 670-seat auditorium with excellent acoustics is also located here, complete with a gallery and a sunken orchestra pit.

Another KÖZTI project, the Veszprém Green City also won a BIG SEE Architecture Award. As part of the European Capital of Culture for 2023 project, in addition to the historic downtown, the cultural and educational center of the town has also been renewed with significant green space development. The existing and new public areas of the Art Nouveau theater building have been organically connected to the public areas created above the new underground parking garage within the university campus and to the green spaces renewed according to a unified concept of landscape design. A new café has been established iIn Veszprém, on Megyeház Square, integrated with the renovated retaining wall system. Along the renovated, rebuilt and complemented retaining walls, and cantilevered on the west side partially outside the wall plane, a walltop walkway provides access to the historic church ruin on the hilltop. When designing the route of the walltop walkway and its supporting structures, the main architectural and landscaping aspect was the preservation of the existing natural and built terrain and structures (dolomite rock walls and the connecting stone/brick retaining walls) and the reuse of the stone building material. A green island has been created in the heart of Veszprém, which offers an opportunity for recreation to many generations in cultural islands of different functions. In addition, an ethnobotanical garden has also been created in course of the Green City development, located between the Museum and the Folk Art House, presenting indigenous Hungarian plant species.

The BIG SEE Architecture Awards ceremony was held in Ljubljana. The awards were accepted by Németh Tamás, Öcsi Gabriella and Skrabák Zoltán on behalf of KÖZTI.

KÖZTI had also successfully participated in the Slovenian international architecture competition in the previous years. The White House office building, the BudaPart Homes D building, the V 30 Downtown Sports Center and the Lőver Swimming Pool in Sopron were also category winners.