Lamp Manufactory and Light Museum, Ajka-Csinger

The cityscape and identity of Ajka are greatly defined by the heavy industry that settled here in the 20th century. The industrial boom turned a handful of small villages into a town, building affordable housing and strong communities for the workers. However, in the 21th century most of its industrial heritage is unused and left to ruin, while modern hangars for modern industrial uses pop up in the fields north of the town. This project aims to revive the site of the last operating coal mine (closed in 2004) of the town while tapping into the local pride of heritage and technical know-how.

When surveying the buildings on site I have found the monumental concrete structure intriguing. The pyramid shaped funnels of the coal tanks, the chunky cylinder legs of the loading dock, the skinny skylight where the roof used to be. I have seen similar features in shiny architectural magazines featuring high-end museums and villas. The only difference being, that in the coal classifier building aesthetics were the last thing on engineers' mind. They wanted to make the most functional building in the most economical way. These were the starting points of the design. The inspiration for the function came from Ajka's glass and bauxite factories, which far exceed the human scale. The goal was to rehumanize material processing, place quality at the focus instead of quantity, and find a more sustainable scale. The renovation and expansion of the coal classifier aimed to create applied arts workshops where professionals from various fields could share their experiences and ideas, and, in a modern-equipped glass, metal, and wood workshop complex, have the opportunity for collective creation. The idea of a manufactory emerged from linking the various workshops with the electronics present in Ajka's industry, with the profile focusing on handcrafted, high-quality design lamps, utilitarian and decorative objects, and interior elements. The coal classifier building is situated in a hillside with its main floor being midway through a slope. Keeping this as the main level, the expansion of the building is mainly subterranean, thus keeping the silhouette of the building mostly unchanged. The tower of the building consisting of 6 coal tanks is turned into a light museum, the top floor being a large camera obscura projecting the surrounding forests on the walls.