Functional renovation of the Klauzal Square Market Hall in Budapest

Originally built in 1897, the Klauzal Square Market Hall in Budapest experienced alternating fortunes over the years as a consequence of the growth and subsequent demise of the area in which it is located. It recently underwent a renovation project awarded to the practice Zoltàn Kun-Kunyho.
While retaining the original elements of the historical building, including its steel structure, roof and the facades, the architects transformed the market hall into a modern shopping centre. They covered the main hall with a steel and glass roof, radically altered the basement storage areas, demolished the gallery so as to be make use of the whole building, and reinforced the floors of the ground-level shops.
With its mezzanine balconies facing onto the full-height central hall, one side of the structure has a closed, air-conditioned supermarket while the other houses a number of shops on both the lower and upper levels.
As architect Zoltàn Kun explained, the renovation project combined a careful choice of materials with a striking play of colours inspired by the terrazzo pavings widely used in Budapest architecture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. « When starting out on the project to renovate this old market, our primary concern was to preserve the building’s characteristics and architectural values. We had to take two requirements into account when choosing the new materials: they needed to be both beautiful in their own right and suitable for the context. The choice of the right floor covering was particularly important as it determines the way the space is perceived from the upper gallery. For the flooring design we wanted to achieve an aesthetic language that would be modern yet traditional, perfectly balanced between two different eras. »
The ceramic tiles were vitally important not just in terms of the technical and functional characteristics required for use in high-traffic areas, but also from the standpoint of aesthetics and composition given they have to blend in harmoniously with the style of a more than one-hundred-year-old building.
Granitogres porcelain tiles from Casalgrande Padana were chosen for the internal floor covering, specifically the Granito 2 collection in the colours Milano and Genova and the Granito 3 collection in the colour Ankara and a small 30×30 cm size. The soft grey tiles were installed in a meticulously-designed irregular chequerboard pattern that draws attention to the columns, walkways, entrances and functional areas. Along with the aesthetic and functional qualities, in some areas tiles were installed with the Tactile system, a series of codes impressed onto Granitogres tile surfaces that help visually-impaired users move around with greater autonomy and safety.