Armuth Miklós - Lőrinczi Zsuzsa (szerk.): A Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem Történeti Campusa (Budapest, 2023)
A Központi épület - The Central Building Zsembery Ákos
in two stages. Plans for the new storey on the western wing were ready by June, 1941 and those of the southern wing by April, 1942. The condition still visible today was preceded by careful design work with several variations of the facade design. As a result, the original appearance of the building was not basically changed by the additional storey. The new facade was defined by the design of the corner projections which were built higher originally. In line with Csonka's concept the crown cornice designed by Hauszmann had to be now in sill moulding position on the wings between the projections. To do so, the walk-level of the attic had to be raised which justified the insertion of a beam slab. This way an access space was created between the original closing slab and the new beam slab. To bridge overthe shift in level, Csonka used new flights of stairs adjusted to the western and southern stairwells. In the southern and western main stairwells - arriving on the original vaulted cover panel by Hauszmann - another 9-9 stairs on the right and on the left lead to the brick and reinforced concrete beam slab designed by Csonka 1,2 m higher. Above the third storey a coffer slab monolithic R-C roofing was built. Csonka's concept did not include adding a storey to the wings facing the Danube as an intervention affecting the main facade here would have entailed too much of an architectural compromise. The roofs of the southern projection of the western wing were also remodelled: the steel columns were only retained in the basement on the area of the former canteen. When these were demolished, the slabs above the mezzanine and the first storey had to be reinforced with two composite section steel master beams. The remodelled rooms were used as lecture halls from then on. On the second storey, in K255 lecture hall today, the steel beam roof designed by Hauszmann was demolished. This is why the interior height here is appr. 1,2 m larger than that of the near-symmetrical K250 lecture hall. In the third phase of reconstruction in 1943 two new lecture halls were built: the construction of the Auditorium Maximum (today: Kf 51 lecture hall) by roofing in the western courtyard toward the Library with 630 seating capacity started in June the same year. Csonka supported the main girders of the steel roof of the new lecture hall - as opposed to the roofing of the formerly built in courtyards - independently of the existing walls on newly built masonry load-bearing walls. This was when the afore-mentioned boathouse was pulled down. The other lecture-hall was constructed by rebuilding the roof of the southern courtyard and the remodelling of the drawing room housed there before.
