35th IFLA Europe Regional Conference hosted by the Hungarian Association of Landscape Architects (HALA)
The A38 Ship in Budapest is one of Hungary's best-equipped, technically flawless concert venues and independent cultural centres. It was built in 1968 at the Kiev Lenin Shipyard, commissioned by the Ukranskoye Dunayskoye Parahodstvo, the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company. Originally, it functioned as a self-propelled stone carrier barge, performing transport tasks on the Danube. Its renovation began in 2002. After a year and a half of reconstruction, it was towed to its current location at the Buda bridgehead of the Petőfi Bridge in Budapest.
The A38 Ship's grand opening was on April 30, 2003.Due to its relatively short but wide and flat design and large cargo space, the Artemovsk 38 type proved suitable for conversion into a concert hall and hospitality venue. However, this unprecedented investment posed significant challenges for the designers. The ship's hull, which is 15 meters wide, 85 meters long, and has a draft of 160 centimetres, underwent complete structural and mechanical renovation. For the successful conversion, container-like blocks were created within the hull. The main parts include the 650-capacity concert hall in the "belly" of the A38, featuring a stage measuring 12 meters by 6 meters with a 4-meter ceiling height, two adjoining internal bars, a restaurant capable of serving 110 guests, and rooftop terraces used for club concerts and parties in the summer.
Before 2021, the now thriving 7 ha Pünkösdfürdő park, as a former flood protection area was characterised by unfavourable soil conditions, a narrow and elongated area surrounded by various pavings. Lacking the multi-level vegetation, it was exposed to erosion on the banks of the Danube.
With several innovative interventions - commissioned by the Municipality of Budapest -, the park is now an essential part of the Budapest’s green corridor as well as a highly frequented public park. Compared to the traditional landscape and public park developments, a greater emphasis was put on the ecological adaptation to climate change. The park carries an important message: the preservation of nature and biodiversity, in addition to climate protection, are our individual responsibility. Hence the use of term regenerative park. The implemented nature-based solutions induce a chain of natural processes creating a more resilient and diverse environment, which also contributes to restoring the link between man and nature.
The park is made up of several distinct units in terms of theme, mood, planting schemes and function, however, each of these unit has the same landscape features of a waterfront setting and of an outer boundary location in common. The parts of the park are linked together and made whole by the walking path.The units of the park are the following: Estuary (reception area with architectural elements), Border (agricultural crops), Grassland (adjoining zones planted with 6 different types of unique seed mixtures), Balk (accessible walkway, connecting the different parts of the park), Grove (area covered by shrubland, including fitness areas), Plain (sunken sports area with a sunbathing and viewing terrace), Garden (orchard with pétanque courts), River shingle (central playground complex with rain shelter and toilets), Riparian forest buffer (trees planted in a grid).
The park’s planting design is in line with the ecological principles, keeping biodiversity and sustainability in mind. The diverse phytocoenoses all evoke different typical Hungarian landscapes. The compilations of the seed mixtures are taking the local conditions, functions and maintenance limitations into account.The park has won several national awards (incl. Landscape Architecture Excellence Award, European Green City National Award) and also received the Green City certification.
Landscape designers: Adrienne Szalkai (lead), Hajnalka Herr, Gergő Barcsay, Emese Sápi, Beatrix Vidák Supporting team of experts: Gábor Kruppa, Szilvia Odry, Borbála Biró, Bea Golovanova, András Máté
Városliget is one of the first public parks in Europe, established by a city at its own expense, in its own territory, for its citizens. In 1816, a design competition was launched for its territory, where Heinrich Christian Nebbien's project was chosen as the best. Based on his plans, the park developed over three decades and had its heyday in the early 1840s. The goals of the current renovation are the same as the previous ones: "the park should serve as a pleasant place of rest and entertainment for the entire urban society".
The landscape design started in 2016, and the contract was awarded to Garten Studio Kft., the winner of the international design competition. The winning concept reached back to the original landscape garden, and even if it could not reconstruct the park in its original form, it brought back many of its original elements in its structure and function.
