Location:  District V, Budapest

Area: 1,6 ha

Year: 2022

Client: Municipality of Budapest

Collaborators: Sporaarchitetcts

Award: Városháza Park Design Competition - 1st prize

Status: concept plan

The CIRCLE | The obstructed City Hall back garden and even the City Hall itself is vaguely located on the mental map of the locals at Budapest. Should we want to transform this troubled “non-place” to a “place” then we need memorable gestures with characters. This is the reason why the idea of the circle that shapes the character of the City Hall Park has been born.

The circle of the City Hall Park I Circle forms connection and equality in between the city’s all-time leaders and locals at Budapest. Creates a representative square, elevates and centers in a symbolic and functional way the importance of green areas.

It is not a constructed circle, created for the inner self or for the sheer view; rather it takes shape by tuning together the various functions placed next to each other. It is not a perfect circle, nor is it important. It is sufficient that from wherever we look at it, however we interpret, people are unanimous regarding that this is a circle. This forms the basis of a common interpretation where everybody can find their favoured meanings or details considered important.

Circle creates harmony in the park. Forms a dynamic central square, majority of the people using the park are directed to a common area, while leaving room also for retreat. However, not only the numerous functions within the park had to be organised in unity, but because of the park’s troubled environment, such a configuration is needed that creates a clear, transparent situation. The elements complementing the circle fulfil all requirements posed against the City Hall Park. They invoke the facade of Károly körút and add a unified view to the creaky and worn-out facade overlooking the park. They are generous with rest and hospitality areas, creating an ideal place for different events of various sizes.

City structure context I The City Hall Park is surrounded by such monumental or at least intended to be, facades, roads and urban places, that with no exceptions are the result of a desire to transform the city structure by colossal plans which eventually have never been realized.

The City Hall Park will be born in the place of the backyard, a never completed and multiple times reconstructed block. It is fair to say that the Madách Imre boulevard is shorter than how wide it is. Andrassy street runs into the Erzsébet square with its adventurous storied past, a couple of corners from here the Basilica turns its back towards the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky street and the Kossuth Lajos street planned as a straight line reaches the Erzsébet bridge with a number of fractures. The problem of City Hall turning its back on the Károly körút is dating back a good 100 years and being preoccupied by many. Our predecessors often wanted to create an architectural sign that becomes an eternal iconic part of the Budapest landscape, while being able to turn the City Hall towards the Károly körút.

A new, symbolic place in the Budapest local’s perceived city awareness that adapts to the ever changing city structure since the 1700’s years: can a century old knot be cross-cut by a park instead of a building? In this regard the circle fulfils exactly the role that has been intended for the multiple storey building, first dreamed to this very place nearly a hundred years ago. Iconic, a new form not to be mistaken, in place of the strict ivory tower style building overlooking Budapest, it creates a democratic green communal urban area, symbolising equality between the city inhabitants, operating with human-centred solutions. The most important gesture of the gentle, competent planning is the size of the circle. Looking around from the City Hall Park, we realize that former plan structures intended to reshape the fabric of the city, at one stage they started to adapt to the possibilities given by the city and accepted their boundaries. The circle has no intent to reshape but rather to adapt, to make the most out of the existing structure. It stretches as far as the city structure allows; up to the extent where it can still be perceived and understood.

Functioning of the park I The main character and structure of the City Hall Park is given by the circle that can by all means serve all those functions needed to know for everyday situations and occasional events. An urban community place, forum, a representative event area and a resting garden, from children’s day to palinka festival or demonstrations, it can accommodate all venues, it caters for everyone’s need, it is democratic square.

The central part is a large green area with grass, together with the inherited alley of trees and the city wall. This is surrounded by an installation line all the elements (seating, table, drinking-fountain, water game, steam gate, flower areas, shadows, games, etc) that makes this place valuable for everyday considerations. Around the central core, there is a paved communal shell with trees where events are organised, naturally involving the central green area because you can take a walk on the grass!

On invoking the original facade of the original City Hall building plans, the place reacts with multiple lines of plant entwined pergolas and leaning pillars structure. The most intense pedestrian traffic happens on the sidewalks of the Károly körút that is interconnected by the double pedestrian crossing from the Madách square direction.

A welcoming circle I The City Hall Park’s fourth time-span dimension consists of hundreds of years. Within appears the track line of the city wall, the planned wing of the building that has never actually been realised in its original form, the remnants of the late tree alley once defined by the line of boutiques from the Károly körút side.

There are a good 200 years stretch in between the oldest and the newest elements of the wall facade. These timelines are accommodated by the circle; it organizes in unity and welcomes new ideas of current need regarding urban structure, equipment and functions.

The park offers space for different events, accommodates the newest functions and solutions. A park has been born to the extent where daily and occasional visitors, Budapest locals or visitors arriving from any other places are overwhelmed by experiences. The functions needed to make all this happen, that are sometimes simple and informal, are adopted and organized by the circle. This would also mean that the more people use the park for conversations, swinging or reading the more visible the circle will become and will fulfil even more its scope to serve the role of being the link that forms equality and connection in between the city inhabitants.

Green in the centre I “A representative square in front of the City Hall” – in the mindset of the majority, people would think of a paved area where green spots serve merely as a complement, being used to the thought that representative squares are ruled by the pavement and the View, later with capital letters.

The City Hall Park reverses this logic: the contiguous green surface and the areas formed by the perimeters within the nearly 90 metres diameter circle, places the green scope and the different functions into the centre spot. With the 50-50% division in between the paved and the green areas, the park strives to achieve balance and harmony even on this front.

As a representative, green, urban park situated in a symbolic place, it plays a role in advocating the locally pioneering blue-green infrastructure solutions by presenting it in layman's terms. This mindset forming contributes to the climate change fight, well beyond the park perimeters.  With the added daily functions and large contiguous green surface areas, new elements appear at Budapest’s most densely constructed area that are often missed by those who move out to the agglomeration.

From a “Non-place” to “the place” I The enclosed backyard of the City Hall, but even the City Hall itself is merely on the mental map of the Budapest locals. Should we strive to make this troubled “non-place” to become a “place” then we need gestures of character that we can memorise. The instantly perceived circle serves the scope: lines up functions and creates aggregates. There is a great need for this: the Erzsébet square, Deák Ferenc square, the City Hall Park are all lined up merging into one another and its perceived boundaries are contingent. There are more Deák Ferenc square stops near the City Hall Park and the Erzsébet square than how many there are actually on the Deák square itself. The park reflects on this situation as well as on the turn to the Károly körút, being the century old symbolic aspiration for the City Hall.