Extension of the Primary School, Visegrád

Architects: Anna Mária Tamás, Krisztián Kovács-Andor
Text: Eszter Götz
Photos: György Palkó, Krisztián Kovács-Andor

In the early 2000s, Visegrád began to grow out of a settlement that had for a long time been a place of „live Middle Ages”. With the remains of King Matthias’s palace and centuries-old monuments, the village of 1,800 inhabitants was gradually finding its real self. Another sign of this is the recently completed extension of the school complex in the centre. Its main structure was built originally as a medieval dwelling house, which after the Turkish occupation served as the very first church of Visegrád. The other block at the street front was a century-old, dilapidated residential building, which has been demolished by now and also replaced by the new school wing containing the main entrance. Part of the ensemble is an imposing gym hall with a half-timbered gable built in the 1980s after a design by Imre Makovecz. This in its own peculiar way brings back the character of the medieval townscape. In this confined plot of land covering only 1,200 m2, the architects of the project, Krisztián Kovács-Andor and Anna Maria Tamás had to meet the functional needs and requirements of the school’s programme in a building that would not overload the already densely occupied and developed centre and would also fit in with the context of its medieval atmosphere. In addition, the two former buildings had to be incorporated into the newly added unit so that the open space between them, which was not large enough, could meet the requirements of the students to do physical exercise during the breaks.

General planning: A+ Építész Stúdió
Architects, interior designers: Anna Mária Tamás DLA, Krisztián Kovács-Andor DLA
Fellow architects: Zoltán Bánfalvi, Andrea Engert
Fellow designer of interiors: Andrea Engert
Structure: Eszter Temesi
HVAC: Ursula Jeszták
Electrical engineering: Gyula Sas Jr
Public utilities: Péter Kerécz
Main contractor: Kipszer Ltd.