"Fairy Tale Garden" kindergarden

The urban development goal of the Municipality of the 13th District of Budapest is a future city that provides satisfaction, a city that ensures ecological and economic sustainability - the foundation of an eco-city. As the municipality is a large energy consumer due to the facilities it runs, reducing operating costs is a priority. Setting goals for sustainability and energy saving, the district made a bold and forward-looking decision, giving birth to the country’s first passive house kindergarten, the new FAIRY TALE GARDEN Kindergarten for 16 groups. The investment decision was supported by the experience and positive reception of the 100-apartment passive house, which was previously implemented also with municipal development and was awarded the FIABCI award (World Silver Winner) in 2016.

Designed with an energy-conscious approach, the FAIRY TALE GARDEN KINDERGARTEN is also environmentally conscious because the existing flora and fauna has been fully preserved. There are 8 group rooms each on the ground floor and first floor of the kindergarten planned to replace the old building. The uniquely designed roof garden serves as the fifth façade of the building in an urban setting, where children can play in a sheltered, shaded environment.

The circular, square and triangular shapes of the roof terrace provide natural light on both levels through the skylights and at the same time create a vertical connection with the interior dressing and traffic areas. These unique formal solutions help children to feel cosy and to easily orientate. Instead of a cavalcade of colors, one single color, sunny yellow, creates a warm atmosphere. The unique, humorous and lovely figures on the floor, walls, doors and glass are an integral part of the building. The walls are covered by magnetic paint, so an exhibition of children’s works can be arranged easily.

The building has been certified by the "Darmstadt Passivhaus Institut". The increased thermal insulation, the heat recovery ventilation, the LED lighting with light and presence sensors, the surface cooling and heating and many other innovations provide comfort for children and educators and result in an energy consumption that is a tenth of a similar institution.

The main message of the Fairy tale garden passive house kindergarten is to emphasize the importance of environmental education, and the building itself is part of this process.

Adopted strategies

During the design and construction of the passive house such solutions were used that minimize the heat loss of the building and maximize its heat gain. Two of these planning strategies are highlighted here:

• Compact building design: building volume with the smallest possible envelope surface. The proportion of facade glass surfaces does not exceed 40% and is oriented to the southeast and southwest. Shutters protect against overheating in summer, while in winter, opening them allows the sun’s rays coming from a lower angle to penetrate the interior spaces and be used as heat.
• The thermal envelope is the surface of the heated part of the house in contact with the outside. The thermal insulation layer must have an appropriate thickness and thermal insulation capacity, be continuous and not contain thermal bridges. It is very important to ensure airtightness to prevent unwanted, uncontrolled and energy-intensive air infiltration.