Among the World’s Best Designs

A’Design Award is a worldwide prestigious competition that has gathered the most talented designers: architects, graphic designers, landscape architects, furniture, toy, fashion and musical instrument designers and jewellers from 180 countries in the past eleven years. This year there were 8500 nominations in 110 categories. In 2020 the International School of Debrecen won Golden Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Category thus ranking it among the top 40 best architectural projects in the world.

A previous design of BORD Architectural Studio, Moonvalley/HOLDVÖLGY winery, won Bronze Award in 2017-18  in A’Design Award Competition.

The  International School of Debrecen is an international IB school which can take up to 500 students. The school focuses on the students and experience-based education. The building was completed in 2019 in one of the green belt areas of Debrecen, right next to the 1300 ha Natura 2000 protected Nagyerdő forest.

The architectural concept of the building is based on the geometric shape of the circle. It is the symbol of protection, unity and community that meets the philosophy of the institution perfectly. It also arranges nature and the built environment into a harmonious unison.

But how is the concept represented in the building? The pavilion-like classrooms are placed on the arc of a circle. In the area between the building and the forest the circle motif is continued by the educational gardens. Finally, the paths trodded by the children complete the last circle in the forest. The different functional units of the volumes are connected to each other like gears, hence the title of the entry: „Gearing”.  More information about the building and the concept can be found in our competition design.

The leadership of Debrecen has enriched the city with several colourful urban innovations, public facilities and buildings recently. Reconstructing Nagyerdő was the central idea of this development process. The first step of the project was the construction of Nagyerdei Stadium. The building complex  was designed by BORD Architectural Studio and became a catalyst for the reconstruction of Parkerdő through which the Mist Theatre was built and the Békás Lake and Nagyerdő Open Air Theatre were renovated. Several other designs of BORD enrich the sights of the city such as: Forest Offices, Péterfia Corner, Bem Park and Dóczy Park. At the moment they are still working on the Aquaticum Water Park  and the Innovation Centre of the University of Debrecen projects.