Our goal is to continue the built history of the city center through the thoughtful replacement of architectural and environmental elements, enhancing quality and sustainability while respecting and minimizing the disruption of the community’s established intellectual network.

The city relies on the Petőfi cult as a resource. However, its spatial representation is currently contradictory in many places. Nevertheless, there is an essential and valuable legacy of the Petőfi tradition that is not manifested in the physical environment but in the cohesive power of the community’s intellectual network. Children in Kiskőrös encounter the city-shaping identity associated with Petőfi from an early age. This fosters their interest in poetry, literature, and culture, enriching their knowledge. It is no coincidence that the city operates a living library and a cultural center.

With our design, we attempted to rehabilitate some fundamental principles from the old urban fabric, establishing a usable and accessible main square alongside a new library building that articulates it. The decision regarding the cultural center’s designated site was easier to make, as it involved demolishing the former party headquarters. The party headquarters was in a dilapidated state, offering neither architectural value nor intellectual heritage worthy of preservation.

The architectural design evokes the built and landscape elements of the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld, Rónaság) as a cultural landscape. The buildings maintain a small-town scale and height. In line with environmentally conscious thinking, the structural framework is made of wood, CLT, and BSH elements. The facades and roofs feature ceramic cladding, a material with strong local traditions. Large portals establish a strong visual connection with their immediate surroundings. The cornices align with the lines of neighboring buildings. The interiors are characterized by raw wooden structures and surfaces—more traditionally expressed in the library, while in the cultural center, they serve as pure space-defining elements.