Exhibition Hall and Studio, Kolozsvár

The Exhibition Hall (Műcsarnok) project was presented as part of the 1930 exhibition of Transylvanian artists. In this case, the architect acted simultaneously as client and designer. Financing remained a persistent difficulty, and the building was ultimately realised only in 1943, on the bank of the Someș (Szamos) River, close to the historic centre of Cluj.

The ground-floor building, containing three large, top-lit gallery spaces, can be understood as an uninhibited play of contrasts. Its strict symmetry is softened by the main façade’s entrance arch, whose wrought-iron and brick detailing introduces distant historical references. This element stands in direct contrast to the volumetric interplay of the side entrance, the stair tower, and the studio space located on the upper level.

The formal language of modern Dutch architecture, toward which Kós showed particular interest at the time, coincided with the ongoing process of reduction and refinement that characterised his public-building designs of the 1920s. A direct parallel may be drawn with the Giraffe House (1908–1909) designed by Kós for the Budapest Zoo.