Urban Meadow Proposal / Barnabas Laris & Adam Vesztergom

Barnabas Laris and Adam Vesztergom, in collaboration with Borbala Gyure, Csenge Csontos, Nora Kohalmy and Mark Antal, recently won the first prize in the Main Square of Ujpalota competition for their project, ‘Urban Meadow.’ The forum or main square of Újpalota, which is the second largest micro district of Budapest, is situated exactly in the center of this residential area, at the junction of the main roads. Most inhabitants of this housing estate cross this square day after day. This town square, however, does not have a view which is framed by public buildings. Therefore, a new community building can achieve a remarkable public function as well as a space-forming effect, simultaneously placed moderately as its volume is more solid than the ones of the commercial buildings. More images and their description after the break.

There are some characteristics defined by the settlement: the centrality and the important gate-away traffic are given. The composition of the buildings here is varied and its visual appearance is chaotic. The café is stuck between the shop and the community house and it squirms like a little brother in the shadow of his bigger companions. The square’s other pavilion-like buildings (kiosks) are also in a rundown condition. Parts from the square are torn off from the great complex. The main elements of the square are connected to the past of this area, and also do have an ad-hoc style. The fountain is located in the crossing of the pedestrian roads but it does not make the people stop while passing by. In spite of the many unfavorable components, there is agile vegetation in this area. It refreshes the mind of the people coming here from the narrow block of flats and crowded public vehicles.

Leading Idea

As stated by Martin Heidegger, ‘Wherever a present being encounters another present being or even only lingers near it […] the openness already rules, the free region is in play. Only this openness grants to the movement of speculative thinking the passage through what it thinks. We call this openness that grants a possible letting-appear and show opening.’ In Hungarian language the same word refers to open or clearing up sth, in word for-word translation the word means meadow.

Among the tower buildings and the sector houses of Újpalota, made of concrete panels, there is a remarkable tree vegetation here, thanks to an intense afforestation, started in the 70’s after the construction of this housing estate. Under the foliage level of the extra favorable rich vegetation, there are some consumer zones in rundown condition, which are under-defined and extremely low-exploited. The different functions and the objects float in the green like a strange hull.The leading purpose of our design was to create a square which is to become a meeting and refreshment point of the neighborhood. We considered the area as a coherent unit in which the several elements are connected. Every different element is part of the whole complex. We took the valuable tree substance of the square as the base for our planning. In the concrete jungle, it plays a crucial visual and emotional role, having an especially great importance in the life of the inhabitants here. We created a built, but still green area, in the middle of a green environment and have opened a space in it, measured to a meadow clearing in the nature. The reconstructed community building is connected to this “public meadow” while creating the only facade of the square.

Architecture Designers: Barnabas Laris, Adam Vesztergom
Surroundings designer: Borbala Gyure, Csenge Csontos
Supporting members: Nora Kohalmy, Mark Antal
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Project title: Urban Meadow
Name of competition: Main Square of Újpalota
Status: 1st prize