High Court of Justice

Debrecen, Hungary

Photo © Courtesy of Koller Studio

Architects: Földes Architects

Location: Debrecen, Hungary
Year: 2006

The task was the placement and the planning of the High Court of Justice, the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office and the Town Court in the heart of Debrecen, a civic city with 1000-year history. The planning was preceded by a national tender which fit the build-in of the entire Révész-square block to its new program.

From several points it is an especially ungrateful task to set up a new building on the above mentioned fractured area, especially as the first element of a large-scale reconstructing. The most conspicuous characteristic of the building is its blackness, the sides of the inclusive prism look as if they have been carved with a blade. The building does not exit its bordering flats staying inside its own limits. The appropriate knowledge of one’s limits and compliance with them, a behavior without trespass as the predominant guiding principle, suits the formation of a judicial centre.

The brick surfaces are invigorated by the delicate play of light and the shadow effects of the rhythmically recurring hatchways of the upper lantern-lights. This living texture is randomly cut up by the inserted shorter longer red limestone strips. The light glints the mat mass of the brick on the polished stone, giving a quite dynamic horizontal cut to the facade.