(June 2011) The building extends a two-fold invitation: to come inside but also to linger on the building’s entrance steps. On occasion of Pécs’ designation as one of three European Cities of Culture 2010 along with the Turkish capital, Istanbul and Germany’s Essen, the Kodály Center was erected there.
Architects in charge of the project were from Budapest’s Építész Stúdió. The concert hall and conference centre has a modern flair with straight, smooth surfaces but interspersed with eye-catching window sills and unusual angles between segments of the building. One of the side walls bears a huge picture window.
Dominating the appearance of the façade are two types of travertine from nearby Süttö. Architect Tamás Fialovszky writes: „Generally we tried to use local materials both for cultural and environmentalist reasons.“. The yellowish-white stone, well-liked by sculptors for centuries, was provided by Reneszánsz Company.
Remarkable not only the entrance steps to the building but also the fact the architects chose to write the name of the building „Kodály központ“ („Kodály Centre“) on the façade in bold characters: stylized in a polished plate oversized „K“. The building was named after Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967), Pécs’ composer, ethnomusicologist and philosopher.
Fotos: Tamás Bujnovszky
