RENEWAL OF THE BUDAPEST CITY HALL

Planning status
Plan
Planning year
1996 - 2012
Planning area
60 000 + 80 000 m2
Locality
Budapest
Lead Architect
Zoboki Gábor DLA habil., egyetemi tanár
Architects
Oláh Éva, Tóth Zoltán, Turi Zoltán, Silvester Csaba, Szatmári Gábor, Csécsei Ákos, Demeter Nóra, Lakos Dániel, Tolnai Linda, Rózsás László, Jancsó Krisztián, Csiszér András, Rutkai Pál
Rotarides Mihályné, András István
Main design partners and consultants
Pető Zoltán, Homologue CS Kft.-Ölbey Zoltán, Lőrincz Áron, Bogner Zsuzsa , LIMES - Csizmazia Géza, Rácz Róbert
Client
Budapest Főváros Önkormányzata

Most of the protected building complex and the courts of the Budapest City Hall, originally built as a hospital for disabled veterans, are in an undeservedly neglected condition and are underutilized. For lack of an appropriate urban design concept, investment intention, financing construction and sound legal background, the situation of the block of the City Hall is still not resolved. Since 1996, we have dealt with the concept of renewing the area in several phases. At first in the framework of the detailed development plan made for the central inner city where the aspects of fitting into the texture of the city – the demolition of the row of small shops on the Károly Boulevard side, development with commercial and car parking function, park on the main street side – were determined. In 2008, the tender organized by the Budapest Municipality wanted to resolve the revitalization of the building by adding new wings and installing commercial units and urban public spaces apart from the municipality function. In the competition titled “The Heart of Budapest – City Hall Forum”, our office won priority purchase. In 2012, we worked out a three-phase concept for organising the area economically, without high-volume developments in a scheduled manner. In the first phase, the handling of the building parts on the Károly Boulevard side and the connected court, in the second phase, the complete renovation of the protected historic parts of the City Hall, and in the third phase, new developments along Károly Boulevard are to be realized to reach the intended final image of the area. The courts are to be opened for the public, so a huge city forum connected to Károly Boulevard can be created.