Location: District VIII, Budapest

Area: 9 000 m2

Year: 2019 - 2022

Client: Budapest Transport Centre Zrt.

Project manager: Közlekedés Kft.

Engineering: Tetra-Com Kft., Technoconsult Kft., Közmű 2006 Kft., Ganz Hydro Kft., Uvaterv Zrt., Szabó Henriett, Győrei Zsolt

Contractors: STR Mély- és Magasépítő Kft., Ornamentika Kft., Technoconsult Kft., Garden Kft., Plank Antal

Status: completed

Many of the Budapest locals think about Blaha Lujza square with nostalgia and somewhat of sense of loss, once being the place of the National Theatre, demolished in 1965 and the place where the beautiful building of the Corvin store has been “wrapped up”. History and city evolution left their marks and the square’s stage gradually degraded.

 The scope of reconstruction was the transformation from a simple, noisy city junction into a public space with vegetation and trees thus bringing value to the square, responding to the surrounding buildings enclosing Blaha Lujza square. The new square is then transformed into a practical meeting point, offering space and location for a shorter or longer sojourn.

 The main idea of the complex reconstruction was to create a transparent, generous inner city public space that in addition to providing adequate interconnection for various transportation lines, also shows an independent public space character. 

In addition to the landscaping and quality renewal, one of the most important factors was to increase the pedestrian usability and in parallel, to restrict the traffic access as well as structurally connect with the surrounding active frontages (was a lucky coincidence that the Corvin store reconstruction happened simultaneously). Thus, Blaha Lujza square becomes the pedestrian continuation and a focal point of the Népszinház street.

 A mounted water feature has been positioned strategically as a defining visual element, connecting with the visual axis of Somogyi Bela street. The presence of water will contribute to the local microclimate in the summer heat.

A dense wooded grove separates the inner square from the heavy traffic of Rákóczi street. Here a more static area has been suggested through the placement and arrangement of street furniture and bicycle locking facilities.

Elevated planting beds whose arched tracing margins serves as a seating wall are the main feature of Blaha Lujza square. Total amount of 80 deciduous trees have been planted in the square, both in the planting beds and scattered throughout the square. The Stockholm tree planting method was implemented for all the trees outside the planting beds with total planting area amounting to 2400 m2, which is the biggest such continuous example in Budapest.

Given the rich historical past, key focus was given to preserve the intellectual and cultural heritages during the planning process. Starting with the ruby-red coloured swivel chairs, placed throughout the square as abstract interpretation of the velvet covered original theatre seats scattered around following the demolition explosion. Similarly, the motives of theatre perimeters reappear in the pavement, as well as a memorial tablet and the relocated Theatre memorial stone.

Unique are the miniature bronze sculptures, discoverable along the planter edges which recall the famous plays and roles played at the onetime standing Népszínház Theatre, depicting a ball-like colourful cavalcade, based on caricatures and photos from that period.

On the same principles the iconic mushroom formed fountain has been preserved, being renovated, and relocated, it displays another moment of the square connected memories.