Construction Documentation and Information Center
Based on Government Decree 313/2012. (8. XI.) on the Construction Documentation and Information Center and the National Construction Register and Government Decree 16/2010. (5. II.) on the collection, preservation, processing and utilization of the documents to be preserved in connection with regional development and spatial planning, the Documentation Center of the Construction and Transport Ministry gathers, processes, stores and supplies national construction-technical blueprints, urban planning and settlement development plans, land-use and spatial planning documentations. The majority of the plans in the collection – amounting to 24500 linear metres and stored on nearly 7000 m2 – are archive material, but the current settlement and regional plans, and the Construction Geotechnical Database also represent great vocational value. Linked to these legally determined professional fields, the Documentation Center operates an Urban Studies Reference Library.
Related to its field of research, the Documentation Center also accepts blueprints, document collections, and bequests handed over on a voluntary basis so that these can be preserved for posterity and become precious intellectual resources available for public research.
The holdings of the plan collection and the library are also searchable and researchable online (HunTéka).
The number of collected blueprints and documents increases steadily. In the interest of serving clients and to ensure high-quality data supply, a 250 m2 client reception area is available for visitors, where the plans, books and research documents can be requested for on-the-spot examination – due to their uniqueness, it is not possible to lend them.
We regularly organize exhibitions, presentations, forums and workshops in our client reception area by means of presenting an architect’s oeuvre, the themes of architecture, urban planning, visual culture, as well as the collections of the Documentation Center.
Our free services
- Data supply - based on an electronic catalogue, registers, documents
- Providing access to documents for inspection
- Uploading electronic documents
Our services subject to fee
- Providing replicas in electronic or paper form
- Information research
Collections, document types
- Technical documents for construction
- Land-use development and spatial planning documentations
- Settlement development and spatial planning documents
- Construction Geotechnical Database
- Urban Studies Reference Library
- Motion picture collection
- Photo collection
The conditions of use and costs of our services are specified in the Regulations of Operation and Data Management.
The Mission Statement of the Construction Documentation and Information of Construction and Transport Ministry
The objectives of the Construction Documentation and Information Center are based on Act CXL of 1997 on Museum Institutions, Public Libraries and Community Culture and Government Decree 313/2012. (8. XI.) on the Construction Documentation and Information Center and the National Construction Register.
What is our purpose and duty?
Our collection is an important information source of architectural and construction materials from the period between the post-World War II reconstruction and the democratic transition. By gathering, preserving, maintaining, as well as supplying and making researchable the documents that fall within this scope, the aim of the institution is to support national construction investments, architectural researches, and government decisions relating to, architecture and construction. Our main fields of collection are the blueprints, plans, photos, films and documents of former state-run architectural planning and design offices, as well as land-use development, spatial and settlement planning, and settlement development plans.
What are we striving for?
To level up the standards and efficiency of our services by continuing to expand, catalogue and digitalize our collection as it grows, by operating the Urban Studies Reference Library and providing access to the holdings of other libraries while also exchanging documents between them, by offering technical information and operating an electronic catalogue. Attending to students in higher education, we exhibiting our collections and organize tours of our plan repository, thereby supporting the practical aspects of their training and scientific research activities. In our client reception rooms, professionals and individuals interested in our field of collection can visit thematic exhibitions of selected documents that provide insight into the architecture and the history of architecture of the period represented by our collection.
What do we want to achieve?
Our objective by all the above-mentioned activities is to make our collection indispensable in the documentation and research of the architectural heritage of the state socialism era, as well as the settlement planning history of the period.
With the aid of our online databases and by responding to the incoming queries in a timely and professional manner, with the continuous and comprehensive exploration and digitalization of the collection as well as its preservation, we endeavour to support and assist the research of our clients and to facilitate access to information.
How do we make that happen?
In order to achieve our mission we need:
- to use our resources more efficiently – make our collection well represented and as widely accessible as possible;
- to operate a value-added, more relevant information and research service – make better use of existing professional competences;
- to more thoroughly utilize the archives – producing contents on the history of building and architecture based on source documents available in the collection;
- to continuously improve and expand our IT tools – by doing so, producing more digitalized contents and serving the clients more effectively;
- to make a good impression on decision-makers and thought leaders, thus establishing a positive image of the collection.