Hello Wood is an award-winning design-and-build architecture office that does it all—whether large scale planning, resort development, or a cabin in the woods—the studio has over ten years of experience creating lovable buildings and projects worth celebrating. Hello Wood is also an independent educational platform in design and architecture that teaches how to think with our hands and learn through experience. They started as an art camp in 2010 for students in design and architecture and today its educational reach has grown to include a summer school and festival involving more than 20 universities and 30 countries. Together with their partners, Hello Wood seeks sustainable and replicable models for achieving social benefits, improving quality of life through design and architecture. The Hello Wood model focuses on the power of hands-on making and offers emerging designers the opportunity to break down barriers and work beyond the walls of universities.
These three projects highlight a few of the partnerships and collaborations established between Hello Wood and Budapest Metropolitan University over three years of student-engaged, socially motivated and participatory, design-and-build projects. Small scale and agile responses, these projects reveal how site-specificity and participation in engaged learning can amplify creative exchange.
Cause
CSOCSOCSOCSÓ
Location: Taliándörögd, Hungary
Team: Produced as part of Hello Wood’s Off-Mustra 2020
Program: Budapest Metropolitan University
Team leader: Márton Pintér
Team members: Zsanett Dorka, Kinga Katatics, József Kiss, Vivien Andrea Lippai, Krisztina Lovas, Ingrid Manhertz, Dóra Szurduk
Harnessing the power of play, the CSOCSOCSOCSÓ project is not only a unique visual object but offers a source of entertainment. One of Taliándörögd’s central community spaces is the football pitch and its surroundings where a playground had been recently been built with the help of parents in 2020. The Budapest Metropolitan University team’s multi-functional Csocsocsó (‘Foo-foo-foo-football’) table placed in the middle of the pitch is a statement on the scale and cost effectiveness of community activities while ensuring that parents are entertained alongside their children. Th¬¬e 4-metre long table is adjustable: it can be folded and locked so that chess and board games can be played on the other side.
Method
Tanulni FOX
Location: Tolcsva, Hungary
Team: Produced as part of Hello Wood’s Építész Mustra 2019
Program: Budapest Metropolitan University
Team leaders: Beáta Molnár, Márton Pintér
Team members: Zsanett Dorka, Anna Ditta Fehér, András Graf, Kinga Katatics, Hunor Királyfalvi, Dorottya Lizer, Krisztina Lovas, Ingrid Manhertz, Dóra Szurduk
This project elicits the potential for story telling and cinema in public space where a mixed-used site can be transformed from an outdoor classroom to a nighttime public cinema. The project is located in the Szirmay-Waldbott Castle, which operates as both a museum and a school. The Budapest Metropolitan University team designed, built, and installed a multifunctional pavilion with a cubic frame structure in the yard of the castle. One side of the installation cube functions as a cinema screen, while the other side is an open-air classroom consisting of individually designed chairs. The project is a tribute to the memory of William Fox, a famous resident of Tolcsva who founded the 20th Century Fox film studio. The project is named after the film mogul with the projector being called “Mozizni FOX” (‘you’re going to watch’) and the school function “Tanulni FOX” (‘you’re going to learn’).
Impact
Fedélszép
Location: Tarcal, Hungary
Team: Produced as part of Hello Wood’s Építész Mustra 2018
Program: Budapest Metropolitan University
Team leaders: Beáta Molnár, Márton Pintér
Team: Anna Borik, Dániel Csepi, András Graf, Szabolcs Hornyák, Dorottya Lízer, Fanni Nagy, Niki Novák, András Pintér, Sára Szeredi, Dóra Szurduk
Fedélszép (‘Nice cover’) addresses a design problem in a football-loving village: the need for overhead shelter adjacent to the grass pitch and largest open space in Tarcal. During championship playoffs the Tarcal village team saw upwards of 150-200 fans on the sidelines despite an uncovered stand made of concrete and earth. The Budapest Metropolitan University team addressed this need with an overhead solution that was designed to house all the municipality’s local fans under its 24-metre span. The installation is a classic couple roof held together with threaded rods, simple wooden decking on the back, and corrugated sheeting on the sides. Its shape is a triple silhouette mimicking the mountains overlooking Lake Tarcal and its colors are that of the team: the black and white of the decks and the red of the two Hello Wood flags. The cover was appropriately inaugurated with a 2×20-minute match between Tarcal FC and Hello Wood’s national team.
