Photos by Andrea Balázs
10- 15 years ago the topic of mobility gained momentum in the Hungarian contemporary architecture. Many young architects realised that a major task of the next generation of architects/enginiers and urban designes will be the redefinition and reshaping of the existing urban infrastructure. Architecture and mobility will have implications not only on the traffic systems (means of traffic) of the 21st century, they will have impact on social spaces, public parks, as well.

It allo meant that the an increasing percentage of the new architect-generations will be involved in the formation and design of the new urban networks, as opposed to the traditional tasks of designing commercial and public buildings, or residential properties.

Although the town of TISZAFÜRED is conseiderd to be the capital of the Tisza-Lake Region, and also the center the North Alföld eco-touristic subregion, it has relatively few sights / buildings that are worth mentioning from clearly actitectural prospective. One of them nearby is the Hotel Tisza Balneum (designer: Ferdinand Architects 2004-2008).

Perhaps that is why my first encounter with the cycling center struck me as a suprise. We arrived on the main road from the direction of Debrecen. For miles and miles there is nothing to see but the breathtaking planes of Hortobágy. When we reached Tiszafüred, and crossed the railroad - quite unexpectedly we caughts the sight of the new building. The psychological efferct is very different from other buildings which have a high tower - which the visitors can see from far - here it comes totally out of the blue, after one or two bends from the town centre - you have a stand-alone snow white building in front of you - with suprising contoures.

For the lovers of contemporary architecture it is immediately obvious the Bicycle Center designed by Ferdinand Architects may have been inspired by Dutch or Danish examples of urban bicycle facilities. The road becomes the building itselt in their stucture, too, as it spirals upwards, slowly ascending and finally connects into the building at the top - where the entrance zone to the Pavilion was located. ulated
This concept was further developed in Tiszafüred, the connection of the central corpus and the spirals are loosened, less calculated, less regular. The roads that take the cyclers up are coverd with green roofs at certain parts establish the functional connection between the levels of the building. The three floors have three distinctly different functions: The ground floor houses bicycle rentals and service function, wash rooms and showers are located on the seond floor, while the top floor gives room to a coffe shop and ian nformation desk. From here you can enjoy the beautiful vistas of Tisza Lake.

And the regular one day cycling program looks like this: families or tourist groups arrive by car or by bust to the closed parking area, they change to the own or rented bikes, if they need any information, they contact the person at the information desk, than set out for the 50km (roughly 30 miles) bicycle road. When they get back at the end of the day, they can have a shower, change, have their vehicles repaired or maintained, have refreshments at the coffee shop, chill out, and continue their tour.

The building may seem a little exeggerated or too modernly shaped for the first sight, since the style and the scale of the building may be considered more suitable for a more dense urban background - as in the examples cited aboe.

On the other hand it must not be forgotten that objective of the designer could have been the creation of a symbolic venue, that provides a marketing advantage too, as its unusual form is easy to remember,, it clearly distinguishes Tiszafüred from other tourist destinations.

This building does not merely serve the pure functional needs of bikers, it aims to the the symbol of the touristic development projects in the region, may be the symbol of the bicycle tourism in Hungary, in general.

In summary the dinamic,, dashing (buoyant) structure that reflects the pleasure of rolling, the pleasure of movement does not become a provocation, on the contrary it is a brilliant architectural gesture, which is capable of communicatig a grand-scale touristic development to the any or all layers of society.
Text by Jozsef Martinko