Kodály Center

Pécs, in Southern Hungary, was one of the cities awarded the title “European Capital of Culture” in 2010 which in turn stimulated several exciting new building developments. Several public areas and cultural facilities were renovated and a new concert hall, the Kodaly Center was built.

The Kodály Center is situated between national road 6 and a railway track and, in order to protect the acoustic integrity of the building, the acoustic consultants specified a box-in-box system.

Isolation of the 500 mm thick concert hall base slab was achieved by resilient pads glued to lost formwork panels Stravifloor Prefab and extra point and line loads of columns and walls were supported by pads with a load capacity of 6-8 MPa. Calculations indicated that the softer pads would take the net load of the base slab whilst the harder pads would start taking up loads later, during the construction of the columns and walls.

The orchestra rehearsal room on the second floor was also successfully isolated using the box-in-box system. Chillers and larger ventilation units were isolated with machine bearings, using both metal springs and elastomer pads, to prevent noise and vibration from being transmitted throughout the building.