The new City Park Theatre. Varosliget Park, Budapest. Re-thinking a new entrance with a multifunctional building for the city park.

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Preface
1. A brief history of Magyar people……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Budapest, urban development XIX XX Century……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
2.1 The Andrassy Ut, an example of modern boulevard……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3. The Varosliget Park……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3.1 The birth of the park……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3.2 1896, a Millennium Exhibition………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3.3 Varosliget nowadays………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. Liget Competition……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4.1 The winning projects…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4.2 Critical analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4.3 The old City Park Theatre……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5. Site Inspection……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5.1 Choosing the right spot……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
5.2. Understanding the problems………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6. Architecture “in line” – the concept……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
6.1 Full-Void…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6.2 Functional Distribution…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6.3 The envelope………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
6.4 Under the same Roof…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
6.4.1 Working in section, mass forming …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7. The City Park Theatre, a complex for theatrical and musical activities……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7.1 Plans, Section, 500 scale……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7.2 Zoom: Plans, Section, Façade 100 scale……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Preface
I came to Budapest on the 15th
of March 2016.
I arrived in the city centre by tram, travelling fastly on the binaries, speaking about music with an unknown man sit next to me, falling in love with the noble fresh air
spread along the Danube, the only true king of city.
Coming out from the metro I was suddenly impressed by thousands of lights in the street and by those wonderful white Palaces around me, very severe with their
exterior but extremely elegant on their structural rhythmic scansions on the facade.
Walking along the Andrassy Street I could understand what should have meant crossing the city of Budapest in the XXth century: for just one minute I felt like
absorbed by that atmosphere of ferment that was strong in the city during that era; a climate of progress surely aroused by the proximity of the Asburgic Empire.
I also tasted that pain caused by the Soviet Union occupancy after the World War II , which has been seen by Hungarian people (historically remembered as a strong
nationalists) as a pure apt of aggression to their freedom.
Walking along the Andrassy Street, in the day of the celebration for the National Holiday, I’ve seen hundreds of men, women and kids walking together hand by hand.
Arriving in the Varosliget city park, the strongest place of national representation, I gathered all the experience I could learn from the place listening the voices,
watching all the multiple faces around me and collecting pictures in my memory, just to make me feel more closer to them.
Everybody was dressing a red-white-green cockade on the chest, not even one single kids dared to escape from the “dressing code”. I admired so much that spirit of
nationality in their hearts that I understood clearly that, in the past, they should have had to fight strongly to obtain their independency.
All the people was moving forward to Hero’s Square, the most famous place of national representation, that has been the “theatre” for 150 years of the biggest public
events in Budapest.
Climbing the stairs of one of the first example of metro of XIX century, I was touching the thin steel pillars holding the ceiling just a few dozens centimetres from my
head, and then the marble pavement of the square came to my eyes: a gigantic colonnade was setting the scene for the big obelisk in the centre, and its thin shadow
gently showed me the way to the entrance of the park…
I was arrived.

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1. A brief history of Magyar people.

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2. Budapest Urban Development XIX-XX century
At the beginning of the IXX Century, Budapest is still a composite town divided among the three main centers having opposite functions: on one side Obuda and Buda,
the royal and administrative districts, on the other side Pest, the commercial port in development, still excluded beyond the city walls.
In 1801 the Austrian imperial administration asked to the architect Janos Hild to elaborate a new urban planning scheme in order to give a more contemporary aspect
to the city center – following Napoleon’s urban planning practice. This first step, approved in 1805 by the Hapsburg Emperor started the series of changes and processes
that would lead to the actual Budapest urban shape.
From 1808 to 1859 the Palatino1
established a “commission for Pest beautification”: the main purpose was to redevelop and put the bases for the future urban growth.
This new project for Pest, comprehended some actions that had already been taken - as a new market square out of the walls (1785 -1789), the destruction of the city
walls and wooden doors (1789-1808) and the attribution of a civic address - and organize them in a more complex concept of urban landscape.
The main interventions were in the Leopold district, near the Vac door, including the new market square and the massive Austrian barracks. Among the improvements
it is worth to remember: the Danube riverbed regulation, the realization of a tree lined promenade along the river, the construction of the Servite Church (the current
Saint Stephan Cathedral) a new square next to the market (current Nador Square) and especially the Vorosmarty Square, the place of the Municipal Theatre and the
Vigado Concert Hall.
In addition to that, all the City sectors were provided with new roads and squares, a new drainage system, the relocation of the public offices and a new regulation to
provide new spaces for warehouses and markets.
During the first half of the XIX Century two events occurred, causing the temporary hold of Pest urban development.
Firstly, the flood of 1838 forced to develop a new regulation in constructions and a plan to stem the river.
1
The Palatine was the highest-ranking official in the kingdom of Hungary from the beginning of the XIth century to 1848

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The Danube has always been the point of reference for the urban development of Pest and Buda: it is still evident that the most important and representative buildings
are located along the riverside and, even nowadays, it divides and connect the two opposite sides of the City.
The growth of the town was linked to the logic of nature: all streets started from the Danube or took to it from outside. Consequently, the old plan of the city collocated
the main monuments and buildings along the river – or just immediately near there- while moving towards the outskirt, the representative functions were substituted
by factories and workshops.
Another fundamental event for Budapest urban development was the opening of the first bridge on the Danube. In 1839 Count István Széchenyi asked the project to
the engineer Tierney William Clark, who gave shape to a chain suspension bridge, such innovative to be considered one of the most modern of that period. For the first
time, the direct link between the two banks, Buda-Obuda and Pest, was the connection between the three urban realities. From that moment on, the only separating
element was gone and all cities got fused in a unique, big metropolis.
The last essential event on the urban expansion is the revolution of 1848, which caused a momentary stasis in the edification of new buildings and in the urban progress
that had started at the beginning of the XIX century.
The fusion in a unique administration that the revolutionary government put in action, was then revoked by the restored Habsburg authority. Finally, in 1867, an
independent government was established by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise2
, which finally gave independence to the Kingdom of Hungary. In Budapest, there had
been many insurrections during the second part of the Century: Hungarians needed independence, they were revendicating a national identity in opposition to the
Austrian Empire, likewise, they were looking for an artistic and architectural own identity. In 1873, indeed, the fusion of Buda, Obuda and Pest gave birth to the new
capital, Budapest. Between 1889 and 1910 population increase from 270.000 to 800.000. Urban concentration expanded from the Leopold district to Terézváros and
Erzsébetváros ones.
2
The Compromise partially re-established the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hungary, separate from, and no longer subject to, the Austrian Empire. Under the Compromise, the lands
of the House of Habsburg were reorganized as a real union between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Cisleithanian (Austrian) and Transleithanian (Hungarian)
regions were governed by separate parliaments and prime ministers. Unity was maintained through the rule of a single head of state. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-
Hungarian_Compromise_of_1867)

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Budapest Urban Expansion, 1903Budapest Urban Expansion, 1852

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2.1 The Andrassy Ut, an example of modern boulevard.
Many measures were taken in order to give a more appropriate and important role to the new Capital.While Buda stood enclosed on its physical boundaries, Pest easily
got over its historical center.
In 1870, the public affair Council worked on a global development scheme regarding Pest, Buda and Obuda, including projects of arterial roads and infrastructure; Lajos
Lechner3
, based on the Parisian and Viennese example, won the contest with his plan of radial avenues and three circular boulevards: The Grand Circular Boulevard
(1871- 1896) and the radial avenue (Sugar ùt , later Andrássy út, 1871-1885).
Along the boulevard, he wanted to provide space for public buildings, shops, apartment houses, palaces, residences and villas along its entire length.
Miklos Ybl with Istvan Linzbauer (1838-1880) were invited to prepare preliminary designs for individual blocks: soon other architects became involved.
In 1872 an international consortium contracted with the city for the execution of the project. After 1876 the Metropolitan Boards of Public Works took the matter in
hand. Ultimately, the 115 houses along Sugar ùt were bought or built by the aristocratic families and nouveaux riches merchants.
Sugar ùt (later renamed Andrassy ùt and inaugurated on the 1st
of May of 1885) is the most ambitious and sophisticated single project in the history of XIX century
Hungarian town planning. The high level and homogeneity of its architecture is unrivaled in Budapest. The avenue, loosely modeled on the Champs-Elysees in Paris,
extends 2.3 km and it is divided into three sections by two geometrically regular spaces, the first being an octagon (Oktagon Square), the second a circle (The Korond).
As the avenue progresses from the city center towards the Varosliget, each section grows broader and the buildings on either side become lower.
The function of this Avenue is to connect the city center to the main park with a dignified street, more refined than the old Kirali Utca, dark and busy.
As long as you walk towards the park, the buildings reduce while the lines of trees change from two to four, with an suitable road section for the carriages, maintaining
a continuous perspective without any disturbing elements.
3
chief engineer of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (P. LOVEI, The architecture of historic Hungary, The Massachussets Institute of Technology Press, 1998)

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That’s the reason why the new electric tram will be place on the underground part for the 1896 Millennium Exhibition, giving to Budapest one the first example of
modern underground metro in Europe.
The first section of the boulevard (32m) is primarily urban: buildings emerge with four and five-story apartment houses, with shops on the ground floor; the central
section (42m) composed primarily of apartment houses and palaces has white sidewalks and secondary roads. The shape of the last section (61m) is quite the same but
the only buildings are villas, each one with its own garden.
Budapest was very proud of its boulevard and it was used in 1896 as the main entrance to the Millennium Exhibition, which took place right in the Varosliget park.
Andrassy Ut, tunnel of metro (Gyorgy Bruggemann, 1895) Andrassy Ut. 1909

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3. The Varosliget Park
3.1 The birth of the Park
At that time, it was fundamental for a big city to have an urban park. The Embellishment Commission for the restoration and development of Pest4
worked long on this
purpose. It was already planned on the urban composition; in 1820, the topographic map of Pest already showed the the Statdwalchen, the city park, located beyond
the area of the Pesther Weingarten. It will then be renamed Varosliget.
On 17th
January 1813, the competition for the park is announced, leading principals of social equity. The new park, indeed, should be a public space for all social classes.
The chosen area is 166 ha. and it is sited quite far from the centre, out of the Terézváros and past the defence moat of Liniengraben (yet not used since XVIII century).
Mr Heinrich Nebbien was the winner of the competition, a German-born landscape architect, mainly active in Austria but anyway already know in the Kingdom of
Hungary. The project was drawn up in three years (from 1813 to 1816) and finally approved by the Commission on 1817. It consisted of a sinuous annular path and a
shield of poplars, large lawns, a lake with two islands, an amphitheater, two ballrooms and a grand entrance colonnade recalling the Brandenburg door.
The distinctive element of the project was the Circus or Rotunda, three concentric rings for pedestrians, riders, and carriages, set right at the entrance of the park,
accessible through the axis of Kiraly Utca, the old avenue coming directly from the centre of Pest. Nevertheless, the definite conformation will be set just at the end of
the XIX century, in coincidence with national and international expositions that took place inside the park. From then on, the original project of Nebbien will be radically
changed and adapted to the new functional needs of the park.
In fact, a new wide path was drowned in the centre of the park, tangent to the ring, and intended to be used by the upper class.
1885 is the year of the National Exposition, on the occasion they built approximately 100 temporary pavilions and a fix one, with a metallic structure (Ipar Csnarnok),
where the products of industrialization were shown. Even if the Andrassy avenue had just been completed, the primary axis of the exhibition follows the old radial –
4
Established in 1808.

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Kiraly utca- and its continuation to Varosliget Fator, the boulevard with villas that was the official entrance to the public park. Inside the park, the area designated for
the Exhibition, was behind the big tree-lined circus and continued the central axis creating parterre gardens surrounded by small pavilions, then leading to the triumph
arch, entrance to the Ipar- Csarnok.
In general, the disposition kept visible the landscape design of the park, where architectural elements played the role of hyperbolic fabriques, absorbed by the
surrounding vegetation. It will fundamentally create the image of the Varosliget for public and historic opinion: a polyfunctional park where architectures play a strong
role, dealing with the greenest parts.
Nebbien Elevation of the Circus (1817) Nebbien Masterplan for Varosliget (1817)

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3.2 1896, a Millennium Exhibition
For the urban development and the landscape of the park, the most crucial moment was 1896, the millennial anniversary of the Hungarian conquer of the Carpathian
basin. This new Exhibition was, not just the occasion to celebrate the long life of the Nation but, above all, the seal of a tortious process of modernization and expansion,
corresponding to the Hungarians’ desire and need to get out of a centenarian position in the background – a national feeling started with the submission to the Ottomans
during XVII century and then to the Austrians.
The Millennium Exhibition is the right occasion to show the new face of the Capital, and gives itself input to such process of image-creation, leaving heritage in terms
of infrastructure, urban and architectural plan. For the special occasion, there were happenings and celebration all year long and there was a National Exhibition with
pavilions about history, industrialization, science and Hungarian traditions. Compared to the previous exhibition of 1885, that time the area was wider: they occupied
the two islands of the lake up to the edges of the city zoo , on the Northern side of the park.
240 pavilions, erected on that 52 ha. area, showed Hungarian products as evidence of a great past and a glorious present on all field: industry, agriculture, finance,
constructions, transportation and many artistic expressions.
Anyway, the biggest news of that was not the size, but the new strategic connection between the entrance and the brand-new Andrassy Avenue. With the main access
moved to West, it was clearly expressed its new central role in the urban pattern and becomes a stenographic architecture indicating the way to the Exhibition. The
new “gate” to the park became permanent, in the intersection between the park and the axis of the Andrassy Ut (where is the Heroes Square), putting apart the old
Niebben’s circus. From Heroes’ Square, the way to the park took the visitor over the lake to the first pavilions, putting the bases for the future extension of the Andrassy
Ave, according to the original scheme of 1885.

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From an urban point of view, the strongest heritage left by the 1896 Exposition is the creation of a new metropolitan center, not central for its physical position but
for the symbolic appeal. Choosing the point of intersection between the radial avenue and the public park as new monumental entrance to the event and – later- to
the park, finally gave authority to the biggest arterial road in Budapest.
Pavillons disposition in the first National Ehibition in Varosliget (1885) Pavillons disposition for the Millennium Exhibition (1896)

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Architect Albert Schickedanz was the designer of the buildings and square, providing great contribution to the image of that place and a strong symbolic aspect to the
present days.
- Mucszarnok (1896), on the right side, is the contemporary art Gallery;
- The Museum of Fine Arts (1899-1906), on the left side, safeguards the past treasures of Hungarian people;
- The Millenium Monument, with the two-twin colonnade of the semi-circular arcade as a scenography, divided in two quarters of a circle, in order to let the
passage of vehicles on the way to the bridge, as a prolongation of the boulevard itself.
Hősök tere – one of the major squares in the City- is so framed by these three architectures and it is commonly compared to Heldenplatz in Wien. The big difference is
that while in the Austrian capital such space is just next to the Royal Palace, in Budapest instead it is composed of public building and free spaces
Mucszarnòk (1896) Szépművészeti Múzeum (1908) Hosòk Terè (1896)

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3.3 Varosliget nowadays
During the last century, the shape of Varosliget didn’t change so much since the 1896’s exhibition, and it didn’t change at all the functional purposes and destinations
of the entire complex.
Since the Millennium Exhibition, the park has always been considered by Budapest people a place where to find different functions and satisfy many needs. You can
take a sunbath, walk in the nature, explore one of the museums spread in the park or just simply meet people during the week ends.
Varosliget nowadays is an urban public park for relaxation, a green oasis, and a home to cultural institutions, entertainment and recreation.
The park is not intended just as a green lung for the city but also as a focal point for many cultural and leisure activities.
The administration of the XIX century had good reason to envision this place as a venue for the Museum of Fine Arts, the Hungarian Transport Museum, the Műcsarnok
(Kunsthalle), the Budapest Zoo, the ice rink and Széchenyi Thermal Baths.
At present, the institutions want to continue this purpose attracting more and more citizens and tourists to the park, providing new places for contemporary museums,
concert halls and entertainment activities.

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4. The Liget Competition

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Ludwig National Gallery, SANAA Ethnographic Museum, Napur Studio House of Hungarian Music, Sou Fujimoto
4.1 The winning projects
The basic idea for the Liget Budapest Project was born in 2011. Since then it has been adjusted and enriched in many of its elements.
Since the beginning, the city has given a total control and flexibility on operations to the Liget Institution, that has worked in the last six years providing an intervention
plan to renovate the park and rehabilitate the historical buildings in the area.
It is in the 2014 when the Varosliget ltd. has been established to execute and manage the Liget project. An international architecture competition has been held since
2015 to attract the public debate about the Varosliget park and collect the budget to finance the project. Only this year, the list of the interventions has been finalized:
the renewal of Transport Museum, the establishment of National Museum Restoration and Storage Centre, the restoration of Olof Palme House and Vajdahunjad Castle,
the enlargement of the Budapest Zoo adding the Pannon Park with Biodome, the construction of the House of Hungarian Music, the New National Gallery, the Museum
of Ethnography and the Varosliget City Park Theatre.
It is in the House of Hungarian music, the New National Gallery and the Ethnographic museum that the administration has focused more to speed up the Liget
competition in the world, to acclaim in the end a mediatic resonance inviting some of the most important architectural studios in the world for the projects competitions.
In the end, the elected winners are the Sou Fujimoto pavilion for the House of Hungarian Music, SANAA’s project for the New National Gallery and the Napur Studio for
the Ethnographic museum.

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Photomuzeum & Hungarian Museum of Architecture Garten Studio, Varosliget green areas rehabilitation
4.2 Critical Analysis
After closing the international competition, the Liget authority assigned the landscape renewal project of the park to Garten Studio, to work on the requalification of
all the green areas of the park, according to a common landscape design.
It is strange that the Liget institution focused, first of all, on specific project proposals inside the park, leaving the landscape designs to a second plan; it could have been
essential, instead, to have guidelines telling how and where to place the various projects. Such bad managing, have caused numerous changes on the proposals along
the most delicate part of the area: the borderline between the park and the urban pattern, along the axis of Gyorgy Street.
Something very similar occurred during the competition of the Architecture and Photography Museum (2015). Originally, it was planned along the central axis of the
Niebben’s circus but then the idea was rejected and the authorities preferred to give priority to the Museum of Ethnography displacing, though, from its original
position.
It was expected to be placed near the Southern corner of the park; a specific competition was announced but then, after the election of the winning project, it was
revoked. The Museum, was likely planned near the old Rotunda, supplanting the winner project of the Architecture and Photograpy Museum; such change left
unexploited the area around that corner, leaving the area free for a possible rethinking of the old City Park Theatre.

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Old City Park Theatre, XIX Century City Park Theatre, design proposal
4.3 The old City Park Theatre.
“The Old City Park Theatre of the Varosliget was a Secessionist building built in the end of the XIX century in the southern corner of the park.
It used to operate in an edifice with a wooden structure from the 1870s and in a Secessionist building from 1909 before it was demolished in 1951, when
Felvonulási Square was built.
The new location will be in the southern part of Ötvenhatosok Square facing Ajtósi Dürer Street, which is currently occupied by a car parking area. The old-new
Városliget Theatre will house children’s and youth productions. The institution is envisioned to be more than a theatre: its exterior will evoke the old building,
while its interior will be equipped with the most modern stage technology: it will be a real “house for children” attracting families with a wide range of events
and providing an environment where everyone can make themselves at home.”5
5
http://ligetbudapest.hu/institution/varosliget-theatre

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Due to the Liget Competition, the City Park Theatre passes through many distortions. It was put apart in the competition, as if less important, it was almost cancelled
from the general planning and the ethnography museum proposals took its own site. Later on, with the developing of the competition and the change of location for
the Museum, it went back to prominence and it is now a strong point of interest among all interventions that are interested in that area of the park. Up to now there
are no official assignations for the construction, not even a competition has been announced to evaluate other hypothesis than the simple renovation as was the original
project.
It is quite risky to just think about a repetition of a “historic fake”, without mentioning that it would be useless and contrary to the image that Varosliget wants to give:
a contemporary look heading the future, without forgetting the historical background of the park, symbol of Hungarian society and set for many historical and national
events. Having said that, it can be valid the upcoming proposal of restoration to the Hungarian Transport Museum6
, presented by Merket Architecture Studio7
. The
building got deeply damaged from the bombing of the II W.W.; after the War, it was partially rebuilt ad reopened to the public, with some design choices that hid its
original architectural value. The new project is integrally based on the original drawings but with some very modern and complex integrations from design and structural
points of view.
“The iconic dome of the original design will be re-built and assigned to a new function: thanks to special architectural solutions, it will offer an unprecedented panorama
over the renewed Városliget as a viewing tower.”8
With the City Park Theatre, anyway, it is another theme. The proposition of a fake is often a wrong attitude for the main purpose of Architecture. It could sometimes
be acceptable when justified by the presence of ruins showing the permanence of something authentic. Nevertheless, it clearly looks inappropriate when referring to
the City Park Theatre as nowadays there are no traces of its past presence. In addition, a modern performing space can hardly fit in the old dimensions of a prose
theatre of 15o years ago. Public, performers and scenographers needs have changed, so has the subdivision of the technical spaces, especially after the studies - on
theaters and exhibition places- made along the second half of the XX Century.
6
http://www.kozlekedesimuzeum.hu/
The Magyar Műszaki és Közlekedési Múzeum ("Hungarian Technical and Transportation Museum") is one of Europe’s oldest transportation collections.
7
http://mertek.hu/
8
http://ligetbudapest.hu/institution/hungarian-transport-museum

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The House of the Hungarian Music of Sou Fujimoto is placed in an area very close to Nebbien’s circus, along the Olof
Palme internal Boulevard. The place now stands in critical and abandoned conditions; a block of four buildings added
in the 1960 is planned to be completely removed to leave free space and direct accessibility from the rotunda to the
near lake and the complex of the Castle.
5 Site Inspections
For the site inspection, I spent two days walking around the park. On the first day I decided to take a general look to the place, focusing on the historical buildings in
the area to better understand the development and the requests of the Liget competition.
5.1 Choosing the right spot
The site of the Ludwig National Gallery is the current Petofi Cszarnok (ex Ipar Cszarnok), built for the first exhibition in
1885, and later used as the main pavilion for the 1896 expo. During the post war the building has been modified by
Russian administration and nowadays stands in bad structural conditions; the administration of Liget has decided to
demolish it and place there the new SANAA’s Gallery.
The Museum of Transport is open to public and already in function, but the bombing of the Second World War has
completely re-shaped the structure from the original design so the Liget Competition has decided to renovate the
entire structure following the original drawings.

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The most interesting spot I found is in the Southern corner of the park, where the City Park Theatre is planned to be rebuilt.
The old-new theatre will be placed in the exact position of the original secessionist drawings but nowadays there is neither a ruin left of the ancient building since it has
been demolished by the Russian in 1956. On its place, a huge parking lot extends from the corner to the Rotunda and, after the monument in Otvenatosok Square (the
circus), it continues till the Mucsarnok in Heroe’s Square.
In fact, since the Gyorgy Street is intended to be the main access from the city to the park, the existing parking lot is essential to provide an adequate influx of tourists
and citizens during weekends, holidays and celebrations.
For sure, walking along the three available boundaries of the park help me to better comprehend how the urban pattern penetrates the nature.

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5.2 Understanding the problems
So, on the second day, I decided to focus along the Gyorgy Street to
understand the problems that the competition is trying to solve in the
general landscape of the park and analyse how the Nebbien design solution
has changed during the last 150 years due to the 1896 Universal Exhibition.
I was impressed by the fact that there is no filtering between the main radial
street (gyorgy street) and the green pattern of the park.
The parking lot, especially during the days of more influx of visitors, is often
completely full so it tends to create a barrier between the pattern of the
front buildings on Gyorgy Street and that side of the park.
It also suffocates the old “circus” that now has lost its primary importance
and remains just a small green field next to the highly congested avenue.
The elements that are located on the boundary on the Gyorgy street are not
taken in adequate relation with the general landscape design of the park,
which is actually still missing in its final shape.

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Only the presence of the Monument for the Revolution9
focuses the visitor’s attention on the circus, but it’s not enough to give a true comprehension of the original
Nebbien’s intervention; the landscape design neither proves to be functional on the boundary along Gyorgy street.
The lack of connection between the inside and the outside, makes the vegetation a barrier that looks firstly impenetrable, pushing the visitor to flank the side of the
park until arriving at one of the possible intersection car paths.
This situation does not add any positive value to the border of the park, which instead should work as a filter between the city and the nature.
9
In 2005 approaching the 50th anniversary of the Revolution and suppressed War of Independence in which Hungarian rebels tried to push Soviet troops out of the country, the
Hungarian government launched an international open competition for a new monument to honor the country’s victory for freedom. An international jury shortlisted seven proposals
and ultimately a national team was declared winner (D.P.Tamàs, E.K. Tamàs, G.Kata, H.Csaba)

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My personal approach to solve this lack in the landscape design, is to focus the project on the main border along the Gyorgy
Street.
Starting from the southern corner, I have provided a design strategy that arrives up to the Rotunda, so in this way, an
adequate connection filter between the urban pattern and the park can be recomposed. The result is an “architecture in
line” that enhance the functionality of the border, adding a new value to this critical place.
6. Architecture “in line” – the concept phases
6.1. Full-Void
Starting from an analysis of Full-Void of the blocks next to the park, I have placed the shape/size of the existing
buildings in the selected design area, to give an appropriate relation between the old blocks and the new additions.
In this way, all the streets from the city centre ending in the Gyorgy Street, have now the possibility to continue their
paths and join naturally the park tissue, giving new possible entrances to the green area. In correspondence to the
intersection between the streets and the new blocks addition, I decided to put a series of outdoor galleries that should
visually connect the city to the park, creating new gates for the visitors.

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6.2. Functional Distribution
After placing those blocks, I have assigned different functions to each of them, following part of the
requests of the competition. As a result, I’ve established the new City Park Theatre in the first block next
to the corner, to leave a correspondence between the renovation of the secessionist Theatre and my idea.
Later on, I’ve added a second block where all the production phases for the theatrical activities are
concentrated: scenography labs, rehearsal room for musicians, liuthist labs and exposition areas and a
costume lab/shop where to prepare the clothes materials for the representations.
A caffetterie, detached from the Theatre block, face on the exterior gallery to provide services both when
the Theatre is open and also when is closed, to satisfy tourists needs in the area.
The third block is composed on a small theatre destined to children’s school activities based in the interior
on the Sabbioneta’s example.
The block should work as a studio-theatre for school-classroom or acting school but it can be also used as
a black box theatre for the rehearsal of the main events.
The fourth block is an auditorium without seats with a capacity of 800 people approximately, destined to
small contemporary music concerts.
In the end, the last and fifth block, that face the Monument of the Revolution, is destined to tourists’
entertainment (restaurant, café) to improve the services around the area of the circus (that now results
unattractive for visitors due to the lack of any kind of attraction)

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6.3 The Envelope
Once I set all the blocks in line I focused on the exterior covering of them. The main restriction was the respect of
nature: the blocks shouldn’t be higher than the medium size of the trees, so that the architecture could integrate
with the natural environment in a respectful way.
Transparence had to be the main prerogative of the project, since the envelope shouldn’t disturb the visual
connection between the street and the park; it should be encouraged instead.
Furthermore, the envelope plays a fundamental role for the accessibility of each block: it creates a circular and
continuous path inside the building, linking directly every area of the interiors.

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6.4 Under the same roof
“The roof creates the link between the building and his environment and makes the project blatant. Semi-transparent, the roof symbolizes the fusion between
built and not-built and act as camouflage when people discover it from the Citadelle which is height overlooking. It is an invitation to the citizen to gather below
his protection. It symbolized the encounter between the city and the nature, the citizen and the riverbank, the public and the culture […] The natural top light
is diffused thanks to the random positioned glass panels of the roof, in order to achieve to communicate the feeling of being below a canopy of tree, where the
light gently come through leaves down to the ground.10
I’ve been inspired by the project of Kengo Kuma in Besancon and his way to consider the element of the roof mixed with natural light. I tried to reproduce the opening
on the top to let the sunlights go down on the ground and simulate the effect of a geometric canopy tree.
In my case, the canopy tree must interact in a more respectful way with the XIX century architecture along the Gyorgy Street in comparison to the Sou Fujimoto House
of Hungarian Music, that is located inside the park and has no architectural elements around it.However the City Park Theatre is placed in a unique area that belongs
neither to the park, nor to the urban pattern: it’s a unique example that probably follows its own rules.
10
"Cite des Arts et de la Culture / Kengo Kuma & Associates" 04 Jun 2013. ArchDaily. <http://www.archdaily.com/381197/cite-des-arts-et-de-la-culture-kengo-kuma-and-associates/>

30. 30
The roof plays a fundamental role in the project: it links the different blocks under one same sign and it’s the key player in
the concept of “architecture in line”. It’s a long and continuous element that doesn’t show any interruptions; it creates an
external arcade that bring the visitor into the different accesses of the park.
It is a symbolic element of junction and, at the same time, it covers from the rain and canalizes the water in its center,
meanwhile during summer offer repair from the hot sunlight.

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6.4.1 Working in section – mass forming
Working “in line” means that the
mass forming shape is dependent
from one single drawing in
section.
Starting from just one single
“sign” I tried different solutions
depending the structural system
hypothesized.
In my example, choosing one
fixed dimension on the length of
the external envelope (set on 24
meters).
I tried to vary the angle
inclination of the roof, gathering
some different concept design
which then have led me to the
final shape.

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7. The City Park Theatre, a complex for theatrical and musical activities

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7.1 500 scale drawings

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7.2 100 scale drawings

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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank all the people that have helped me in the development of my thesis, with critiques and helpful observations: all my gratitude goes to them, even if
It’s mine all the responsibility for every mistake in this work.
I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Arch. Riccardo Renzi for the help in the composition process that has led me to the final idea, my co-supervisor Prof. Arch.
Valerio Alecci and Mario De Stefano for the support in the structural part and to Prof. Arch. Mariagiulia Bennicelli Pasqualis for the technological assistance in the
project.
A special thanks to all my friends, especially Michelangelo, Letizia and my dear cousin Fabio, that have encouraged me in this year with wise advices and precious
patience.
A beloved thanks to my girlfriend Irene for being always on my side.
In the end, I would like to thank my family: my father Romeo, my mother Iosiana, my sister Alessia and my uncles Loredana and Amalia for their love and
unconditional support.

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Webography
ARCHDAILY, Kengo Kuma & Associates, Cite des Arts et de la Culture, 04 Jun 2013.
[http://www.archdaily.com/381197/cite-des-arts-et-de-la-culture-kengo-kuma-and-associates]
LIGET BUDAPEST, http://ligetbudapest.hu/