Fire Captured by Concrete
\nVolcano Visitor Center opened in Hungary, designed by Foldes Architects
\nThough Hungary, located in Central Eastern Europe, is not rich in active volcanos, a large expanse of
\nthe country used to be volcanic some 5 million years ago. However, this does help ensure good
\nquality soil for high level wine production, one of Hungary\u0092s largest export products.
\nThe iconic Kemenes Volcanopark Visitor Center lays 200 km West of the capital Budapest, and has
\nbeen realised following a national architectural contest announced in 2009 by the Celldomolk City
\nCouncil, when Foldes Architects celebrated their winning entry from the competing 44 projects. The
\nchosen plot for the center highlighted a flat area between the city of Celldomolk and the 5 million
\nyear old Sag Hill, a former volcano.
\n\u0091Instead of the straight translation of the brief, such as creating a volcano shaped museum building,
\nwe wanted to capture the true substance of the location. According to our concept, the raw
\nmaterials, the homogeneous grey of the concrete, the lava inspired colour of the corten steel, and
\nthe flue\u2010like arrangement of the space, deliver the spirit and essence of a volcano\u0092.
\nLaszlo Foldes, chief designer of Foldes Architects
\nUpon entering the vast interior of the building, the visitor meets two engaging attractions. At first
\nsight the vertically open space captures the eye. Five floors above, a small window lets in a beam of
\nlight offering the \u0091eruption\u0092 point on the flat roof. On the opposite side, the industrial materials of the
\nfa\u00e7ade appear consistent with the interior: naked concrete walls, dark grey rasin flooring, steel
\nstaircase and corridor, and the corten steel cubes also visible from the outside. The varied height and
\nlocation of bridges link the different sizes and positions of the corten boxes. These offer a range of
\nfunctions, from screening rooms to interactive installations area, and present the fascinating history
\nand typology of volcanos. To create a more refined interior, the exhibition texts are situated directly
\non the wall without any supporting board.
\nIf you ever wanted to imagine walking through a cubist painting, this building is a great example of
\nhow it might feel to wander into Picasso\u0092s Guernica. While passing below the red cubes, grey walls
\nand bridges of the building, you have a real opportunity to comprehend the transience and
\nvulnerability of human existence bracketed by such a formidable force of nature.<\/p>\n
CREDITS
\nProject name: Kemenes Volcanopark Visitor Center
\nLocation: Celldomolk, Vas County, Hungary
\nProgram: Specific museum building to represent the volcanic history of the territory
\nType: competition commission
\nArea\/Size: 965 m2
\nYear: Design: 2011 \u0095 Completion: April 2013
\nProject by: Foldes Architects (http:\/\/www.foldesarchitects.hu\/ )
\nTeam:
\nPrincipal Designer: Laszlo Foldes \u0095 Project Architect Team: Laszlo Foldes, Csaba Balogh, Orsolya
\nTatar\u2010Gonczi \u0095 Collaborating architects: Agnes Deigner, Levente Sirokai, Peter Sonicz \u0095 Structural
\nengineering: Zoltan V. Nagy \u0095 Mechanical engineering: Gyorgy Lederer \u0095 Electrical engineering: Judit
\nBalazs \u0095 Installation design: Zsolt Vasaros \u0095 Contributing volcanologist: David Karatson \u0095 Exhibition
\nconcept: Gabor Sz. Szilagyi
\nPhotographs: Tamas Bujnovszky<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":550,"featured_media":12772,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending"},"anno":[8047],"autore--designer":[9043],"citta":[8569],"paese":[216],"regione":[8104],"stile":[19],"tipologia":[8042],"class_list":["post-12769","progetti-e-prodotti","type-progetti-e-prodotti","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","anno-8047","autore--designer-foldes-and-co-architects-ltd","citta-celldomolk","paese-ungheria","regione-abroad","stile-contemporaneo","tipologia-progetto"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/progetti-e-prodotti\/12769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/progetti-e-prodotti"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/progetti-e-prodotti"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/progetti-e-prodotti\/12769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"anno","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/anno?post=12769"},{"taxonomy":"autore--designer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/autore--designer?post=12769"},{"taxonomy":"citta","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/citta?post=12769"},{"taxonomy":"paese","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paese?post=12769"},{"taxonomy":"regione","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regione?post=12769"},{"taxonomy":"stile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stile?post=12769"},{"taxonomy":"tipologia","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theinteriordesign.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipologia?post=12769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}