One-day surgery at the barracks of Alajos Hauszmann, Gyula Pártos and Ödön Lechner

Perhaps Kecskemét's largest historical monument complex, the former Rudolf Barracks, is undergoing a continuous revival. With the reconstruction of the dilapidated buildings, family support centre and secondary school will be built, and as a further investment, one of the barn buildings will be saved by the HÉP Group – Horváth Építőmester Zrt. The 1.2 billion forint investment will see the creation of the Bagoly Private Surgical Centre, with the foundation stone laid on the morning of 23 January.

"Demolition work has already begun at the end of 2024, and the conversion, which will also take into account the historic aspects, is expected to be completed in early 2026"

- we have learned in advance from Balazs Gyenes, board member of HÉP.

The city of Kecskemét decided in 1881 to build a complex infantry barracks in a historicist style on a large area based on the plans of Viktor Hauszmann, but for administrative reasons the construction was only started between 1886-1887, with Gyula Pártos and Ödön Lechner in charge of the detailed designs. Behind the crew buildings, with a longitudinal axis perpendicular to them, are five stable buildings, of which the conversion of stable building G is the project.

Rescue

The stables were aligned approximately east-west, in pairs, with a wider area between two or three stables for the wells and watering troughs, which no longer exist. The stables are rectangular buildings with small projecting corner stalls at each end. Since the withdrawal of the Soviet army, these buildings have not been preserved or renovated, and the last 30-35 years have seen considerable deterioration.

"The next stage of the revitalisation of the Rudolf barracks," added Balázs Gyenes, "is to save one of the buildings and provide a modern private health care facility with one-day surgery."

As the southernmost stable building, the chosen building "G" is a significant element of the ensemble, as it partially encloses the other buildings and stables in the block interior. The building has now fallen into such a state of disrepair that it is vital to find a new function, even at the cost of demolition: a last-minute reconstruction of the building's design, its symmetrical façade and layout, can be carried out by means of a thorough survey and the development of original plans.

The planned conversion will create a surgical centre with 772 m² on the ground floor and a further 437 m² of floor space in the attic with mechanical rooms and storage.

Two state-of-the-art operating theatres will be set up, meeting all medical technology standards, basically for same-day surgery.

Hybrid structure

Pre- and post-operative accommodation will be provided in 8 wards for 16 patients. Due to the challenge of storing the large volumes of material needed to run the centre, which is naturally accessible, the building's roof space will be incorporated.

In the Owl Surgery Centre, the aim is to start general surgery, orthopaedics, plastic surgery and ophthalmology in the first phase of day-care, and in the medium term to establish inpatient care in order to provide the widest and highest level of care for the recovery of patients

- according to the information sent to us.

It will fit in with the other buildings of the former Rudolf barracks

The planned building will be built with contemporary solutions, with slabs made of circular slab piles, reinforced concrete pillars and corbels in the walls, brick bracing walls, but the roof structure will be a traditional wooden deck chair, identical to the original structure.

The roof of the monument will be covered with beaver-tail clay tiles and the façade will be painted in the same pale terracotta as the buildings already renovated in the Rudolf barracks area, with light sandstone frames and cornices. The appearance of the windows will also follow the original design, but with insulated glazing in line with today's energy standards.

Step by step

At the inauguration ceremony, a time capsule was placed, followed by speeches by Mrs.Jakab Egert, Deputy Mayor of Kecskemét City, Sabolcs Bátay, Managing Director of Bagoly Health Centre and dr. Zoltán Várady, CEO of the City Alapkezelő Zrt. .