Hódmezővásárhely’s renowned Reformed school is to be expanded by one and a half times its current size

In Hódmezővásárhely, too, Reformed public education was relaunched following the change of regime: the primary school named after Benjámin Szőnyi, a pastor who lived in the 18th century, was opened in 1994 by the Hódmezővásárhely-Ótemplom Reformed Parish with a single class of two dozen children. Over the three decades since the school was established, pupil numbers have risen to nearly four hundred, so the parish expanded the building on Deák Ferenc Street – which had originally been built as a Reformed school – in several stages during the first decade of the 2000s, through renovation, the conversion of the attic and the addition of a new storey; however, by 2018, despite these extensions, the school building had proved to be too small.

The school may be expanded in several phases

Architect Péter Novák has therefore drawn up multi-stage expansion plans for the development of the institution. As the first phase of this, a public procurement tender was launched for the construction of a new wing. As a result, FERROÉP Fővállalkozó és Szerelőipari Zrt. project will be able to construct, at a cost of approximately 680 million forints and within 330 days, a three-storey extension with a floor area of 491.5 m² and a built-up area of 1,463.7 m² on the school’s grassed grounds.

The new section of the building, to be constructed on the plot at 6 Deák Ferenc Street, will house a library, changing rooms, six classrooms, two group rooms, offices and additional toilet facilities.

A stairwell will be built where the old and new sections join, so the two buildings will be connected on both the ground floor and the first floor. The service rooms and the library will be located in the basement; four classrooms with toilet facilities will be built on the ground floor, whilst on the first floor there will be two classrooms, a group room and an office. The two buildings will share a new mechanical services system, and by utilising the existing „lift shaft” in the current building, an accessible lift will also be installed to facilitate the daily lives of teachers and pupils.

They blend in with the streetscape

The new section of the building will feature a firewall facing the neighbouring plot, in keeping with the closed-row development, whilst its height will match the cornice level (7.35 metres) of the refurbished section of the existing school building.

Building parameters for the current plot:

• plot area: 3,732 m²
• existing built-up area: 972.2 m²
• Gross floor area of the planned extension: 491.5 m²

If everything goes according to plan, by the start of the 2027/2028 academic year, pupils will be able to take possession of the new wing, which will by then have been fitted out with new furniture and ICT and technical equipment.