translucent shell embraces old ruins to form temple proposal in hungary

carol kharbosh’s proposal for renovating szent klara temple, emerges from the old ruins of the franciscan monastery in the center of margrit island in budapest, hungary. the project aims to renew the site and represent the church in its original form, settling a translucent outer shell. apart from protecting the existing walls, the architect utilized contemporary materials such as glass and steel to maintain the visibility of the fragments to the visitors from the inside and outside of the church.all images courtesy of carol kharbosh

the design process by carol kharbosh started with research within old hungarian books and journals. this study made it clearer onto how the plan of the pre-existing church looked like. in many resources was mentioned that the building goes back to the 13th century and its style was gothic, something that made it easier for the architect to reflect on how the outer form of the main hall and the bell tower resembled.

the concept was to build an outer shell for the walls to protect them and bring the church’s old form. glass as a finishing material was used in an attempt to open the outdoor natural view and make the original walls visible from outside the church. a white cross pattern added an aesthetical look to indoor and outdoor areas while partly blocking the sun from entering the church and increasing indoor temperature.

the proposal maintained the standard character that exists in most of the churches of this era including the main hall, mezzanine (for church’s orchestra), bell tower, and priests room. however, due to its location and contemporary needs, some other layouts were added to its spatial program, as the temple is meant to be used more for special marriages and baptism ceremonies, serving as well as a visitor center.

taking that into consideration, the bell tower adopted a special upper space functioning as a panoramic gallery. furthermore, the backside of the main hall took form as a gallery, while the basement area below the priests’ room was used for mechanical facilities. meanwhile, through the proposed structure, the architect sought not to affect the overall environment of the church as he designed portal steel trusses with spider glazing systems. moreover, about 153 solar panels have been designed to install on the southern side of the roof producing much more power than needed to light up the surrounding landscape areas as well.

project info:

name: proposal for renovating szent klara temple

designer: carol kharbosh

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina petridou | designboom