LOST IN TRANSITION - BUDAPEST/ ELISABETHTOWN

EUROPAN 8/ HUNGARY - 1.st. prize

The historical city center is an important cultural property of the town Budapest and thus an enormous capital in com-petition with other european cities. Under this knowledge Budapest operates complex principal-maintain and should respect the origin of the historical town center.The preservation is an important component for slowdown the loss of identification in a more and more globalized world, in which origin and cultural property represent the only fixed points.

Many political changings and the new independence since 1989 make it more difficult to build up a strong understand-ing and develop political instruments, which support the preservation of the historical and cultural heritage.

With the example of VII.district in Budapest we try to recognize the weak points in urbanism and offer solutions in this context.

The condition of the Old Jewish Quarter as a part of the VII.District is coined by purge and destruction and lies like a rigid mass in the center of the city. Here we don´t find hints for urban-adjusting intentions.

One and a half centuries ago it was a lively and healthy jewish living and commercial quarter, in the beginning of the 20.th century experimentation field for some politians and a business-oriented lobby, it was abused during Worldwar II as the Jewish Ghetto and neglect strongly in the communist era. Today it fights almost prospectless for the preservation of its historical values. There is the danger of “Investor-architecture” which finds fertile soil at the profit-oriented district. Old Gründerzeit-buildings are thoughtlessly demolished and the townstructure disappears, which grew morphologically 200 years ago.

The City of Budapest and for the preservation fighting orga-nizations have no power to stop these procedures. Finally putting this issue into an international context might be the last chance for a persistant change.Fast reorientation and acting is necessary to keep one of Budapests extraordinary grown structure alive.

subject area of project

introduction city of Budapest, Hungary

BUDA PEST

subculture vacant sites passageways

analysis

variety of building heights

demolished in

july 2005

Inside the quarter you are in an own system, faraway from the main roads. Its quiet and has an almost suburban cha-racter. We are describing the area by the following strong elements, which give an idea about selective characteristica.These elements does not have only spa-tial character but are on socially origin as well.

innercourts jewish institutions

strong elements

1900, first idea of madách-passage madách tér in 2005 current plan of the VIIth District

red: demolishedgrey: soon to be demolished

At the end of the 19th century the second phase started. External in-terventions, like the building of Madách Tér, characterized this period. The adverse impact is still noticeable today and complicate the urban situation in a tremendous extend.A glimmering shopping mall is in process and puts all the old Grün-derzeit-houses at a risk. The whole quarter has to get declared as he-ritage immediately to preserve one of Budapests unique formation.

brisance today analysis

from field to the typical apartment lively quarter

historical background

The progress in the first 150 years (1720-1870) is based on a own internal logic and is an unique example for an organic and morpho-logic growth.The territory is not spreading out but is introversive. An enourmous density follows, which is not comparable with any other european city. The former long and narrow fields relate directly to the usual cour-tyard-houses. The sizes of the courtyards varies according as the area of the former fields, but the depth of the mews and the sidewings are almost everywhere the same. As we identify them still today, the boun-daries of the fields became the outer bounds of the parcels. It was a healthy and morphologically progress.Self-regulation becomes a motor for this district.

kits first step

We intervene on the level of the participants.

----blocksThe area gets seperated into units, with which to work further on: blocks. Each block is home of approximately 729 inhabitants. We arrange 22 blocks – some are combined in one.

----KITsThe development of 4 kits is an essential part of the concept .

h i s t o r y - KIT c u l u r e - KIT b u i l d i n g - KIT g r e e n - KIT

These kits can be understood as catalogues and they are dealing with a special kind of intervention.

concept

positions/ aims

> P O S I T I O N / A I M S

- several “small” interventions instead of a big one: the continuation of the Madách-passage and the attended demolition of the old building-substance has to stop

- understanding interventions as an impulsion for a process

- learn by experience: the unique selfregulation of the area is a quality

- cooperation of the participants: the different groups of interests be caried into relation with each other

- to revitalize the local market: instead of supporting inter national investors and global players, setting the stage for special local qualities

- to use the existing energies and motivations

- to strengthen the participation of the residents

- to densify/ to de-densify: the area will be densified in some parts, in other de-densified to create public green spaces for advancing the air quality and quality of life

- to attack the declination of the old buildings

first more

COVER:

rooftop extension:

- the building gets extended

by 1-2 fl oors

section through the building

with the inner courtyard

partnership:

COVER can be realized by a

partnership. Partners are:

- building, resp. apartment-

owner with

- City of Budapest

- VII.District

- local investor

In the context of this part-

nership will be developed:

- studios für students

- studios für tourists

- maisonette-apartments

CLIP:

building extension:

- vacant sites are getting

usable

for

the

neighbor-

ing buildings. The existing

building gets extended in the

direction of the empty site

as well as on the roof.

section through the build-

ing:

the

extension

intertwines

like a table around the ex-

isting house

partnership:

The extension can be real-

ized by a building-partner-

ship. Partners are:

- buildingowner with

- apartmentowner

- local investor (for GF)

- City of Budapest

- VII.District

In the context of this part-

nership will be developed:

- studios

- store at the groundfl oor

with an opening to the va-

cant site

- maisonette-apartments

+expert

building kit concept

allocation of the kits to adequate blocks

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building kit detailing

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TREES:

vacant sites:- trees donates lots of oxygen,the vacant sites will be planted with trees

streets:- if the sidewalk is wide enough, a ´greening´ of the blocks with trees is planned

3-DIMENSIONAL GARDENING:

vacant sites:- the ground is getting planted in a horizontal dimension

- suspended cable-construc-tions for climbing plants, attached on opposite fi re-walls

-fi rewalls getting planted in a vertical dimension

garden roofs:-extensive or walk-on garden roofs

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- trees getting planted in vacant sites and if possible along the streets

- if planting is not pos-sible trees will get ar-ranged in buckets. trees can occupy empty parcels tempo-rarily

- the sort of trees are chosen, which grew here in the 18th century and which gave the streets its names

- Pocketparks are planned and organized corporately. Vacant sites are usable. For keeping the ground emp-ty for different activi-ties, we propose climbing plants on fi re-walls and ca-ble-constructions between to walls.

- gardenroofs are made ex-tensive or (like it is shown on the picture) are standing in connection with building-kit clip. The rest of the roof area.

bucket

roots

Acacia [Akácfa]

poplar [Nyár]

walnut [Diófa]

ivy / climbing plants / wine /

gardenroof as a place for the community

Pocketpark

gardenroof

more

- the type COVER is seated as an extra-fl oor/s on the old building and is inter-locked with the top fl oor.

- the apartments in the side-wing are getting rear-ranged as maisonette-apart-ments- the fl oors are con-nected inside. - the size of the fl ats get-ting taller as the original ~ 25-30m²

- the stair-module needs a length of approx.5m and is situated vertical to the pergola- with a width of 1m it fi ts in the existing position of the timber beams

- CLIP is increasing the size of the apartments in the sidewing to the vacant site up to 3m

- the apartments getting light by two sides and will be arranged as maisonette-apartments

- the stair-module is situ-ated transverse to the per-gola. You are walking to-wards the light.

static:fundament-injections if neccesary, if not the forces bleed off over the retaining walls

static:the extension is stati-cally an independent con-struction; throughout pil-lars in the courtyard the forces gets bleed off, to anchor with the existing building for shortening the length of creasing

green kit and detailing

concept

history and culture kit

more

MOBILE STAGE

-the stage gets transported by a truck-trailer and is constructed easily on site

-the mobile stage parks at the KÖR, where it stands on hire-service

-vacant parcels are used for temporarily event locations, the KÖR mediates the sharing of the stage

PROJECTION:

-the enormous fi re-walls offer a perfect surface for projection

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„ ...“CONCEPTS OF ILLUMINATION:

Illumination of the building fronts:-the detailed, eclectic fa-cades getting illuminated (bottom up)-damaged facades getting illuminated

Illumination of the passag-es:-the feature passage strengthen by by accents of light/ ´snakes of light´

competition:-involve artists of illumi-niation

REVIVAL OF HISTORIES:

-every building accomodates history / they get manifest-ed on all buildings

quotating of fi re-walls:-fonts working as an orna-ment: on fi re-walls enormous quatations getting placed, written by poems, which tell stories

competition:-involve artists

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Each kit deals with a special kind of intervention:The history-kit is based on the quarter‘s and the citizen‘s history. With the history-kit the identity of the quarter will be presented and the participation of the inhabitants in issues concerning their quarter will be strenghtened.The culture-kit works together with the existing local cultural-scene and proposes new cultural-spaces.The building-kit deals with new constructions and their organisation.The green-kit creates park areas.To each kit belongs an expert.

green- and building kit occupy the area

start of a process

After the distribution of the kits, a process is initi-ated. In the beginning we organize this distribution, while afterwards a process starts to spread without restrictions. The innitiation in certain blocks brings about a synergy-effect and the interventions will appear in the whole district.

As simulated in the model, slowly a new urban feeling, which is built up on its own potential, is spreading through the area.

concept

example block 4

The example of Block 4 should demonstrate theorganization of the concept.Here we find an acute situation. Lots of the build-ings are going to be demolished and a rethinking has to happen now.

How the idea of the clip and cover, which are the main elements of the buidling-kit, can be turned into practice is shown on two houses in this block.

system of new organization cover on house in kázcinczy utca

groundfloor

1st floor

3rd floor

2nd floor

concept

building kit - cover new types of apartments

A strong characteristic element of the Old Jewish quarter is the variety of building-heights. There‘s no standard-height. COVER is based on this vari-ety. Some 2-, 3 or 4 floor buildings will be added on with up to two levels.

The principle is again to densify and to get an urban char-acter of this central district, but without an uniformisation.

The contrast between higher edges and smaller ones should be preserved and even strenghtened.

system of new organization clip on house in dob utca

groundfloor

1st floor

3rd floor

2nd floor

concept building kit - clip bigger apartments and new types

The potential used for CLIP are the vacant sites. Buildings that border to empty lots can use this additional building to improve the existing side-wing. The CLIP is added to the side of the side-wing and grows over the roof, while pillars end in the courtyard. The additi-on is an independant construction, that doesn‘t destroy the existing structure, but stands like a protecting table over it.

From the street is no disturbing view, because the additional roof on top is taking just the length of the side-wing. The rest of the roof should get a renovation or can be changed to a green-roof, usable for the inhabitants as a sort of garden.

CLIP image inside

utilization of the vacant sites

concept

model with clip and cover in block 4 environment in process

concept by: Jutta Kliesch Johanna Porep 1.st prize - EUROPAN 8/hungary

march 2006

support by GP.Dipl.Architect Donatella Fioretti

contact: Johanna Porep johanna@arch-tank.com ph:001-646-338-1598

revitalization-concept for historic jewish quarter of Budapest