Interpreting the spatial dimensions of theoretical and practical knowledge transfer: The case of two industrial training institutions in Budapest during the Dualist Era

Abstract

The aim of our research was to gain a deeper understanding of the professional requirements of the period in relation to the interior design of two industrial education institutions established after 1867, the Higher Industrial School and the Budapest Municipal Industrial Drawing School, and, through this, of the aspects of the formation of the infrastructural background that are significant in terms of the history of education. Based on this, we formulated the following research questions. 1. What picture emerges from the sources regarding the design of institutional spaces? 2. How was the profession-specific function implemented during the design and construction of the buildings? 3. To what extent do the histories of the two institutions resemble each other in terms of the coordination of infrastructural issues and the organization of education?

Several works on the history of education and art have already examined these institutions, but our current study focused on a relatively unexplored area, namely the analysis of interior spaces. Documents examined through historical source analysis were provided by archival sources and school periodicals for both institutions. In one case, the visual sources consisted of the photos published in these sources and the photographs taken by György Klösz, while in the latter case, they consisted of the plans kept in the Budapest City Archives and the photographic material of the Schola Graphidis Art Collection, which we examined using typological methods.

Our findings show that when designing school spaces, the harmony between infrastructure and educational organisation – alongside the application of Western models – was achieved in accordance with specific requirements. For the Budapest Municipal Industrial Drawing School, this meant that the institution's function as a design school and the need to house the school's collection were taken into account, thus combining the school and quasi-museum functions in the design of the building, while a complex system was created at the Higher Industrial School with the establishment of the Museum of Technology.