The St. Benedict Pilgrimage House was built in Aszófő, a quiet and atmospheric settlement on Lake Balaton, according to the plans of Pyxis Nautica. The client is the Benedictine Abbey of Tihany, which provides spiritual care for several surrounding villages, including Aszófő. It is true that the Benedictines of Tihany already have a pilgrim house – it is called St. Christopher and is located in the immediate vicinity of the Tihany church, in the Rege courtyard – but the building has proven to be insufficient to accommodate the pilgrim groups, student groups and large families arriving at the Abbey. So the Benedictines decided to build a new one near the St. László church in Aszófő, on the site of the former teachers’ house in an unsalvageable condition, which is suitable not only for receiving pilgrim groups, but also for organizing religious education camps and spiritual retreats. The chosen name was apt: on the one hand, it refers to the founder of the Benedictine order, and on the other hand, it refers to the Saint Benedict Pilgrimage, which has been held every year since 2004 and also includes Tihany.

The house is characterized by its clean, restrained forms and respect for tradition. With its massing reminiscent of farmhouses, it fits perfectly into its rural environment. The rectangular, two-story, gable-roofed building stands on the plot boundary. Its facades visible from the street are all very simple and unadorned, and the house is most spectacular when viewed from the courtyard: a wide porch runs along its southwest facade. Since the building is located at one corner of the plot, there is a huge space for children camping here or adults cooking pot.

The nine-room pilgrim house can accommodate a total of 50 people, and the extensive equipment is adapted to this. On the ground floor, a large kitchen-dining-community space welcomes visitors, which is very bright thanks to its large windows opening onto the main facade and the porch. This space extends under the roof of the porch with a glazed extension, thus blurring the boundaries between outside and inside. On this level, we find two more bedrooms, a large bathroom with two showers and two toilets, a laundry room and a mechanical room, and an apartment for the accompanying teachers with their own kitchenette and bathroom.

The attic can be reached via a robust staircase, which, due to the opening of the main facade, also offers an interesting view from the courtyard. On the first floor, there are three smaller and three larger bedrooms, two bathrooms with showers and four toilets. The upstairs rooms have huge attic windows, so each room is particularly bright and well ventilated. This is especially important in the case of the three larger rooms, as they can accommodate 8 people each. Summer night ventilation is enabled by the built-in, retractable mosquito nets on the windows.

Article: Eszter Paár, Architects Forum