The Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS awarded the renovation of the headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences with an ICOMOS Prize! The award was presented on the occasion of the International Day for Monuments and Sites at the Esterházy Palace in Fertőd, and the prestigious recognition was received by the designers of the renovation, Bálint Kelemen and András Makay.
The headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which celebrated its bicentenary last year, has been renewed in many aspects. Based on the plans of KÖZTI, the renovation of the building’s most representative spaces—the Ceremonial Hall and the Gallery—has been completed. Our office began working on the building’s plans exactly five years ago, in April 2021, and by now the results of that extensive work have come to fruition.
As also highlighted in the laudation at the award ceremony, the fundamental principle of the design program was that by the end of the full renovation, the building and its spaces should reflect the Academy’s intention to open up towards society, while at the same time shaping and reinforcing its institutional prestige, and presenting its traditional values and heritage. The most important architectural objectives included correcting structural deficiencies, ensuring sustainable operation, improving accessibility and circulation, increasing the proportion of communal spaces, organizing functions into zones, and creating barrier-free vertical and horizontal circulation systems.
Architects: Bálint Kelemen, András Makay, Alfréd Peschka, Péter Pottyondy, Gergely Patak, Diána Virág-Nagy, Noémi Kinga Weinhandl, Melinda Bognár.
