Armuth Miklós - Lőrinczi Zsuzsa (szerk.): A Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem Történeti Campusa (Budapest, 2023)
A Géplaboratórium épülete - The Engines Laboratory Gy. Balogh Ágnes
THE ENGINES LABORATORY BUILDING 204 Although the original concept was to contain the Departments of Applied Mechanics, Agricultural Mechanics and Mechanical Technology within one and the same building, they were housed in several smaller ones in the end. This is how the partly single-storey ensemble designed by Samu Pecz was built in the southern part of the site. However, this complex also houses the Engines Laboratory (L) Building for the purposes of practical training in mechanical engineering between 1907 and 1909. The latter function was not contained in the original plans, but as it was an important field of contemporary education, the laboratory was included in the programme revised meanwhile: it is referred to as a budgetary item costing 500.000 Crowns. Dr. Lajos llosvay, then rector of the university emphasised the significance of the Engines Laboratory for technology education in his speech when opening the academic year 1902-1903. The last decades of the 19th century brought about essential changes in the methodology of mechanical engineering training: with demonstrative methods coming to focus, laboratory training grew significantly more important. This method had been part of the routine in the training of engineers in the USA: the Boston College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had already featured excellently equipped laboratories for decades, featuring with both engines and analysing methods. The same practice was still a novelty in Europe then: laboratory education was only adapted by technical colleges in Germany in the last third of the 19th century. Munich, Berlin, Zurich and Stuttgart had the very first materials testing institutes on the continent. The pioneering engines laboratory in Europe was opened in Munich in 1875 followed by those of Stuttgart, Darmstadt and Berlin (Charlottenburg). The Budapest-based laboratory was meant for the same functions, although on a smaller scale than its Western counterparts. The building housing the 1300 m2 Engines Laboratory featured two parts: the engine hall lit by large expanses of glass skylights and an originally single-storey flat-roof structure with lateral corridors connecting on the northern side. Samu Pecz meant to conceal the genuine dimensions and industrial character of the building with a wing facing the Campus and designed with a richer vocabulary of forms by directly linking the ground-floor sequences of rooms with the hall via a side corridor. At the time of construction, this lunette vaulted entrance hall with staying strutting was flanked on two sides by a scale-room, auditorium, staff-rooms and conveniences, restrooms and a cloakroom. Originally, only this wing had been constructed with cellars which contained two large stores and were accessible from the side-stairway in the end towards the Physics Building. From the direction of the Boiler House a corridorwas built to facilitate access. Originally designed with 12 m span steel trusses, the hall was eventually built with R-C roofing properly lit via 8x2 m glass skylights. Flat roofs were initially clad in fibre cement tiles. Facade designs featured masonry parapets, ornaments and cornices, as well as carved
