Kincskereső School extension
Alternative approaches
The Kincskereső (Treasure hunter) School is located in Újbuda, Budapest, where there has been a strong relationship between parents, children, and the school from the very beginning. The school opened in 1988 in a former kindergarten building, built in 1974 as part of a socialist era housing estate. Even the launch of the school was a collaborative effort, as Márta Winkler, the founder recalls: "Former students came happily to help clean up the kindergarten building, which had been obtained after much effort and pleading, and to transform it into a school." This cooperation has characterized and defined the everyday life of the school—the community—ever since. The institution, which originally started with four grades, expanded to six grades in the fall of 1996 with the aim of keeping children in a protecting environment for as long as possible. In recent years, there has been a growing demand from both the school and parents to extend the program to all eight grades of elementary school.
In addition to administrative and pedagogical issues, the expansion was mainly determined by physical conditions. The architectural preparations for the expansion began more than three years ago with the active participation of the community. The school's large number of architect parents carried out the initial tasks—building surveys, preliminary research, and development concepts—which resulted in the expansion concept, according to which the expansion would be realized with the support of the parents.
The architectural constraints were the physical limitations of the small site and the limited investment budget, within which a solution had to be found that fit the community-minded, progressive spirit of the school.
Along geometries
The original building was constructed from floor-to-ceiling, 120 cm wide reinforced concrete panels. During the preparatory work, it soon became clear that further expansion of this structure was not possible, and that the expansion could only take place towards the narrow courtyard. The program was ultimately limited to one classroom for each of the two new grades and a shared community foyer, and the floor plan was designed as a continuation of the existing central corridor, maintaining the original spatial structure.
The structure and choice of materials were partly dictated by financial constraints and, similar to the installation, contributed both to the organic continuation of the existing building and to the ideal fulfillment of educational needs. The spatial structure of the former kindergarten building, with its group rooms, and the concrete panels create a powerful structural rhythm, which is reinforced by the appearance of the boundary walls as pillars on the exterior façade, but also add a touch of playfulness to the strict composition with their 45-degree angle cuts at the top. The basic structure of the extension was CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber) wall and roof elements, used for the first time in Hungary in a primary school. The rhythm of the structure and its visible structural design fit in with the logic of the existing building's modular system, responding well to its 45-degree formal play while maintaining a sufficient distance from it. It is also an ideal choice from a pedagogical point of view, as the lightness and spaciousness of wooden architecture and the dominant appearance of natural materials fit well with the school's approach to space and education and with new pedagogical principles.
The alternative pedagogy used in the school extends not only to teaching methods but also to the use of space. The classrooms are complemented by communal spaces, which are used intensively by students during lessons and in between classes. This is continued in the extension, with rooms that are larger than standard and a more adolescent-friendly floor plan, as well as a greater sense of space thanks to the increased ceiling height created by the exposed structure. In addition to its necessary functions—corridor, coat rack—the common foyer can also serve as a community space.
The exterior design of the building also continues this multi-role play: the corrugated metal sheet is both a reflection of the existing prefabricated reinforced concrete panels and a logical response due to its ease of installation, creating a striking contrast with the natural, raw, protective wooden surfaces of the interior. Its rhythmic, neutral appearance ties in with the context of the housing estate, while providing a neutral backdrop for the colorful hustle and bustle of the school.
In addition to the rational, strict design resulting from the constraints of the site, the materials and structures used also allowed for subtle details that harmoniously tie in with the world of the school: the 45-degree rotated window in the foyer is geometrically linked to the existing one and introduces students to the world of fairy tales and treasures.
Using the rhythm and modular system of metal sheets and movable sunshades, together with the rotated windows, exciting contemporary graphics are created on the street facade, while inside, the lines of the wooden structure result in defining lines, proportions, and rhythms.
The role of the cornice-like roof, which is dominant from the outside, is also complex: it provides the appropriate geometry for the simplest drainage method, it represents a clear formal connection to the existing 45-degree broken wall pillars, and it is a subtle nod away from the strict orthogonal atmosphere of the housing estate towards the world of fairy tales and treasures.
Finding advantage in the constraints, the playfulness true to the name is reinforced in Újbuda, so it is no wonder that the two classes moving in were perhaps looking forward to the end of the summer break and the start of the new school year for the first time, which they could now do in their new classrooms.
