masterwork
Forum Kelenföld
The aim of my masterwork is the revitalisation of the Kelenföld City Centre complex, which was once a thriving community hub in the Kelenföld housing estate. After its completion in 1979, the amoebalike sprawling complex located in the centre of the housing estate aimed to change its 'commuter town' character by providing services, shops, a cinema, entertainment venues, restaurants, and a cultural centre. Forty years later, certain functions have become obsolete, and the misguided spatial setups that contribute to the negative perception of the site have become evident. My design divides the area into three sections: the Cultural Centre, the Market Square, and the Forum would house the currently functioning services. To promote the age heterogeneity of the housing estate, I suggest establishing a private college dormitory, whose students would provide a stable user base for the functioning of the Centre. My vision is to create an urban subcentre that provides opportunities for meeting, cultural enrichment, and entertainment in the 21st century, ultimately strengthening the community of the housing estate.
thesis
Derelict Dystopia
The future prospects of concrete housing estates in Budapest
Fluctuation, aging, deterioration, knocking sounds, overflowing parking Housing estates of concrete tower blocks built with industrial technology have become a defining form of housing in Budapest. The ten-story point and slab blocks have deeply embedded themselves in people's minds as part of the cityscape, often in a pejorative sense. My thesis seeks to identify a rehabilitation strategy that can be applied to the domestic building stock in Hungary beyond polystyrene cladding and pastel-colored painting. It also inspects whether these strategies can be adapted to the frequently mentioned contemporary, ecologically-oriented urban planning model of compact cities. I examine the housing estate as an architectural and social system, treating the in-between spaces and service facilities as integral parts of it. I contextualise the focal themes (presented in three chapters) with three housing estates in Budapest that are significantly different from each other.
