Gabriella Szalkai

Author(s) / Team representatives

Gabriella Szalkai

Profession

Architecture Designer MA

Project location

Vác, Hungary

Project start date

February 2023

Project completion date

June 2023

Website

See Website

Photo credits

Gabriella Szalkai

Text presentation of the author/office in English

I studied at the Secondary School of Fine and Applied Arts in Budapest, specialising in furniture making. Here I spent four years in a great artistic environment. I'm glad to have been part of this community, it has been very good for my creativity, my knowledge of art, my openness and it has broadened my vision and my interests. I took a lot of special courses when I was preparing for art college: drawing, painting, sculpture. For a long time I mainly attended the free courses at the Buda Drawing School, two or three times a week, but I also took private lessons elsewhere. I took a preparatory course in architecture at the Corvin Drawing School. I also trained in commercial art. I also worked as an intern in a small graphic design studio and in a printing house. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Óbuda in light industrial engineering - packaging design engineering. Last year, I completed the MA in Architectural Design at Budapest Metropolitan University, which was a great debt to myself. During the semesters I gained a comprehensive creative approach to architecture and interior design. Besides this, I also enjoy painting. I have taken various courses where I gained basic painting skills and later developed my art independently.

Project description in English

Purpose: with a definite gesture, the release of the locked-in strictness. This gesture was created in the canopy, in the rhythm of the facade - the linear and then spatial mappings of the first vocal notes from Bartók's opera - and in the interior-exterior space organization along the flows.These elements also reinforce the concept in the use of colour and materials. BARTÓK BÉLA MUSIC SCHOOL VÁC The building is located at 8 Schuszter Konstantin square in Vác. By September 1971, the Béla Bartók Music School was built on the site of EMERICANA (Foderatio Emericana = Imrés Association, the Catholic University and College Students' Union). The city council of the time chose this site because of its central location and easy accessibility. Today, the music school is no longer an independent institution, but merged with the Bartók-Pikéthy Music Secondary School and Music School of Vác, run by the Klebelsberg Centre. 
When it was built, it was one of the most outstanding and best equipped music schools in the country. Unfortunately, it is now in a state of disrepair. A future renovation could perhaps make it attractive and prosperous again. From an urbanistic point of view, the building and its surroundings are characterised by a wide pavement in front of the building, separated from the road by a tree line, and a pavement island at the intersection of the streets. As a result of the recently changed traffic order, the road section between the triangular sidewalk island and the music school has been freed from vehicle traffic. Here, the sidewalk and the sidewalk island could be connected by creating a public square. The design of the opening helps emphasize the entrance, as well as fulfills social functions. The construction of streets with priority for pedestrians on the surrounding road sections serves to ensure safe access. The lyrical approach outlined in the concept is manifested in a strong linear canopy, the use of façade elements - linear and then spatial representations of the first notes of the opera - , the colours chosen from Kass graphics and the flowing interior and exterior organisation.