Batthyány László Institute for the Blind / A4 Studio

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+ 19

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Text description provided by the architects. The institute was founded in 1898, Budapest. Most of the children who are living here have multiple disadvantages. There are blinds, disableds, mentally retardeds, and most of them are orphans. The state supports them until the age of 18. After this age they have no place to go to.

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Our office, The A4 Studio designed the home of the 18+ children. The new building is connected to the existing one, with a bridge. In the first two floors of the 5 storey building are the common spaces, activity rooms and the dining room. In the 3 upper floors are the bedrooms.

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Our aim was a simple, safe and user friendly building, which serves the life of the children. Most of the corridors get natural light, which helps the orientation of the blinds. The strong light transmission is reduced by the perforated metal sheets. These sheets are placed in front of the large glass surfaces. The perforation is formed from braille subtitles, with the following words: trust, home, shelter and love. Size and location of the windows are different in every bedroom, which can also help the orientation for the kids.

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The other perforation form was designed by the abstraction of the Rubik’s cube (hungarian motive) and the flames (azerbaijani motive). This refers to the funding, which came from Azerbaijan and Hungary also.
 The film; LIGHTHOUSE presents the building with the four above mentioned word (in the perforated sheets). The shooting of the interior sceens was made on site as well.