Courthouse and Prosecutor's Office

The District Court of Dunakeszi announced an architectural competition in 2018 to design a new courthouse and prosecutor’s office for the town. Our proposal for the competition consists of two buildings and an indoor aula, i.e., courtyard.

Both the functional connection and the arrangment of the buildings refer to the local equestrian tradition and built heritage. The remaining riding halls in the Dunakeszi-Alag region all have the same functional structure: the riding hall is surrounded by a dense zone of trees; the building has an inner courtyard, closed from all sides, and in the middle of courtyard there is a single tree.

The above described narrative is adapted in our proposal, as well: after passing a forest-like zone we enter the building and head on to the inner courtyard. The site of the planned building block already has a green border of trees - hence it can be approached in the way attested in the case of the riding facilities.

Our proposal has also been inspired by the notion of court and its relevance in the case of jurisdictional institutions. In medieval times the king’s court was the space to practice law. Today’s functional court requirements still show this past connection, in fact most languages use the same word for judicature and (court)yard.

site: Dunakeszi, Hungary type: new building status: competition year: 2018 size: 3000 m2 team: Donát Rohonczi + RJZS Architects