For ten years, Beta has been awarding quality architectural initiatives and projects in Romania, Hungary and Serbia. The international jury for each edition is made up of renowned architects, and the awards reflect our determination to promote authors and projects with a beneficial impact on the built environment.
For the first time in this competition, we have introduced the People's Award, through which we aim to improve the connection between architects and the general public, emphasizing the importance of architecture that directly addresses the values and needs of society.
We all live in and use the city and the spaces that architects design, so we want the Beta Awards to recognize the preferences of the general public. The Public Award is our way of bringing quality architecture closer to the general public and promoting those architectural projects that make us proud of the cities we live in. Each person can vote for one project in the categories of Built Space, Interior Space, Public Space, Graduate Projects and Research.
The public vote will be open together with the awards exhibition and will run until the end of the competition, when the project with the most votes will be awarded at the Beta 2024 Awards Gala.
Ádám Hatvani is an architect and graphic designer, graduated from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics 1995-
in 2000, at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2000.
sporaarchitects architectural office in Budapest, whose works have been published in the
regularly published in the national and international media. sporaarchitects is an open architecture firm based in Budapest.
young architects, architects, urban thinkers and architects who are interested in the city.
focusing on architecture, sustainability and ecological urban development.
In addition to numerous projects and research, it has been involved in the architectural design of two Danube stations
the recently inaugurated Budapest metro line four, the largest metro line in Hungary, which is now being
Hungary's largest infrastructure project.
Since 2005, he has been a member of KÉK, the Centre for Contemporary Architecture, the first internationally recognised Hungarian architectural
internationally renowned think tank.
Project description in English
Metro Three's interior design was a design icon of the '70s and '80s, before the concept itself even existed. Contemporary, poppy, fun, futuristic solutions, colours, shapes, surfaces and furnishings of its time have since been swept away by the permanent retro wave. The technical iron discipline of wall-to-wall reconstruction condemns these details to total destruction. What can be done?
Rebuilding is no longer an option, the technology and the will no longer exist. The logic of the demolition process suggests another way. Removing the slatted ceilings, wall and column coverings reveals the true face of the metro, the real structures, the tunnels, the tubings, the steel plate insulation, the shotcrete, the Mannesmann gun barrel, hitherto only visible in tunnels and factory spaces. In fact, we are ready. What goes back in doesn't cover, it just highlights the structure, it hints, it brings a new dynamism. Nothing touches anything, everything floats, runs, stops, accelerates, slows down, moves.
The architectural concept was also rethought as part of the reconstruction. The new concept was developed based on the original, idealised appearance of the station, with the technical aspects at the forefront of the entire line reconstruction. From the outset, the thinking sought a link with the original structures, and the surfaces and artefacts previously concealed during the demolition work that was underway provided further inspiration. The architectural concept, created within the strict framework of the reconstruction, combines functionality with the vibrancy and surfaces of the original enclosures.
The architectural concept is based on loosely connected passenger compartment enclosures that fit the existing, complex geometry of the supporting structure. The enclosures act as splays, facilitating passenger flow, accommodating the equipment required by the complex function and providing views of the metro's exciting tunnel structures at several points. The suspended ceilings, with their white colours, orange inserts and moving light fittings, can be interpreted as a blurred image of the original station, with the alternation of transparency and louvres creating a strong dynamic. The wall cladding frames the passenger compartment in a ribbon-like pattern, using colours reminiscent of the metro blue fibre cement cladding, but in different positions in the equally characteristic orange. They also counterbalance the dynamics of the suspended ceiling.