Hello Wood Pop Up Park Downtown Budapest Project, Hungarian Architecture Design

Hello Wood Pop Up Park in downtown Budapest

New Hungary Architecture – design by András Huszár, Péter Pozsár & Dávid Ráday

28 Aug 2018

Hello Wood Pop Up Park in downtown Budapest News

Design: various

Hello Wood Pop Up Park in downtown Budapest Design

Summer Oasis: POP-UP Park Brings People from all Walks of Life Together in Underused Public Space

Hello Wood revives its hugely successful POP-UP Park in co-operation with the Municipality of Budapest City to fill an underused space with a temporary summer haven for both respite from the scorching summer sun and a place of outdoor exercise.

Photos: BVA – Budapest City Identity Nonprofit Ltd

Last summer architectural studio Hello Wood innovated with its short-term park resting among the trees of a downtown Budapest square. It has been recreated once again this year, building on the values of the POP-UP Park by providing a democratic space for all social groups embedded within the everyday movement of the city.

The park is open to all 24 hours a day, available to all walks of life: the travelling tourist arriving into the city from the airport, the businessperson eating their lunch, local elderly people meeting to relax and chat, or the homeless. Hello Wood wanted this sense of democracy to be epitomised by the POP-UP Park, a unique, free-to-use space that was put together in conjunction with the Municipality of Budapest – who recognised the power of utilising the space temporarily until its development is completed, and supported its creation.

With Hello Wood working alongside the Municipality of Budapest on one of Budapest’s frequented yet empty spots beside City Hall this year, the studio has been able to work freely on its grand ideas for the POP-UP Park. The same wave motive returns from last year, the curved construction of the wooden structures providing ample places to sit or lie in the summer sun. This time the seating is much more colourful, too, combining with the addition of palm plants and olive trees to take an otherwise drab, cobblestone square and add a sense of the Mediterranean to it.

Smart additions of sail shades help add some much-needed respite from Hungary’s intense summer sun where the few trees of the City Hall park cannot, while strings of quaint evening lighting keep the environment feeling cosy once the sun has set. The returning solar panels provided by Hungarian startup Platio will provide a place for nomadic workers to charge their laptops while enjoying the serene space or for tourists to refill their phones while taking a break exploring the beautiful Hungarian capital.

The addition of sporting equipment taps into Budapest’s upcoming status as 2019’s European Capital of Sport and the World Cup fever that has taken over the globe. The purpose here is to enhance the POP-UP Park so that it is much more than just a place to relax but a functional space for a community to grow. The major new addition is the street workout equipment courtesy of HardBodyHang, where amateur and professional athletes alike can tone their bodies and build their stamina for free. However ping pong and Teqball tables return from last year, the latter being a Hungarian invention that combines table tennis with football. And if physical athletics isn’t your thing, then the new addition of chessboards at this year’s summer-only park are also available for a few games of mental gymnastics.

The POP-UP Park will be available at City Hall Park until October.

Credits:

Concept: András Huszár, Péter Pozsár, Dávid Ráday
Project architects: Ádám Bajtai, László Mangliár
Architects: Ábel Kiss, Mátyás Varga
Project Managers: Lili Almássy, Ildikó Hajdú, Nikoletta Lakatos

Supported by:

Municipality of Budapest, BVA – Budapest City Identity Nonprofit Ltd., Hello Wood, Oazis
Garden Centre, Visual Europe Group, Platio, HBH Bodyhang, Teqball