The renovated Galyatető lookout tower and tourist center has won the audience price of one of the largest architectural competitions of the world. The Architizer A+ Awards prize is a very prestigious international recognition, founded by
architizer.com, an American architectural news portal together with the Wall Street Journal Magazine and Webby.
The best ones are selected by a professional jury from among the candidates in more than one hundred categories. “For the Galyatető lookout tower, votes could be submitted in the Renovation category, and thanks to the voters, it managed to won the audience prize” – informed Lajos Jánosik, the owner of Jánosik és Társai Kft., the company who performed the renovation of the lookout tower.
The stone lookout tower, located at a height of 960 meters was renovated by Jánosik nearly two years ago. The lookout tower, located at Péter-hegyes was built in 1934. By now, the surrounding trees have almost completely grown around it, so the view was undisturbed only in northern direction. This is why it was time to completely renovate the lookout tower and increase its height with 10 meters, so that one can enjoy the magnificent panorama of Mátra in 360 degrees again.
The lookout tower with natural stone covering was originally 17 meters high, onto which a 10 meters high reinforced concrete building part was constructed. For this, the foundation had to be reinforced, so that the building had to remain stabile during the digging process. A monolithic reinforced concrete slab was placed on top of the old building; this holds the new, 10-meter lookout tower part. Instead of the obsolete, rusted iron stairs inside the lookout tower, two staircases were built on the outside of the building. Tourists can use one of them for going upward and the second one for going downward, avoiding the former tumults. A stainless steel protective net was placed next to the external stairs, for security reasons. At the entrance, a modern access control system has been set up. The electrical network of the lookout tower was also completely renewed.
The special venue required several special procedures during the implementation. The construction took place in an area subject to environmental protection, therefore particular attention was paid to the preservation of the environment. For example, tower crane could not be used for the construction of the new part of the lookout tower. The new tower part was pulled up manually, with small-table formwork. During the work, the workers have paid special attention to the environment, protecting the existing trees and vegetation. The reconstruction of the lookout tower - corresponding to the height of a 10-storey residential house - required special preparation. “The investment of a total cost of 62 million forints has been completed by the deadline” – said Lajos Jánosik.
