Catholic Kindergarten, Budafok-Tétény

Architect: Gábor Csanády
Text: Eszter Götz
Photos: Anna Fábry

In the early 1800s, a school was built in the centre of Budafok, behind the Roman Catholic church, in a village then famous for its vineyards and wine cellars. Later on, a cross-wing was added tot he structure on the upper floor, and a school-yard was built in front of it. In 1912, a separate teacher’s house was built on the top part of the plot. In the 1960s, it was divided into emergency flats and the ground floor was used as a pub, with the house itself deteriorating over the decades. Finally, in the early 2000s, it was repurchased by its original owner, the church, and after a renovation project, it was used as a kindergarten. Connecting the individual blocks on the multi-storey site, transporting and serving food between the various levels, creating sheltered internal playgrounds, integrating local building traditions, not to mention some of the remaining building components – all these steps required a highly multi-faceted approach. Gábor Csanádi, the architect of the project, started by making the best use of the available space and was not afraid to apply unusual solutions. The basement system beneath the house has led him to use structural engineering tricks, and the façades and interiors have incorporated some salvaged old components, in keeping with the architectural traditions of the village.

Architect: Dr. habil. Gábor Mátyás Csanády DLA
Fellow architect: Flóra Barbara Pálfi
Structure: Judit Aninger, Magdolna Mermeze, Tibor Varga, Miklós Juhász
HVAC: László Zvolenszki
Electrical engineering: Tamás Tibai
Elevator: Zoltán Némethy
Garden: Klára Jordán, Katalin Mailingerné Gyurkovics
Fire alarm: Zsolt Fraknóy
Fire protection: László Hársfalvi
Glassworks: Ádám Donko
Investor: Esztergom-Budapest Archdiocese
Main contractor: E-Builder