Hungary
Project history
In medieval times, the site lay outside the city
walls of Pest. Originally it was used for cemetery
purposes and later it became a market place, then,
in the middle of the nineteenth century, it became
a public park providing opportunites for open-air rec-
reation. A hundred years later, in 1948, a modern,
functionalist bus terminal was built on the eastern
side of the park, replacing a two-storey baroque
residential building which had been badly damaged
in the Second World War. Along the small boulevard
nowadays called Bajcsy Zsilinszky út, a huge car
park was built.
In 1996, after a long political and professional debate,
the government decided to build the new National
Theatre on the site of this car park, thus recreating
the spatial boundary along the small boulevard and
providing a new architectural landmark that would
transform the difficult and irregular link to Andrássy
Avenue. The former bus station would gain a new
cultural function, while the Erzsébet public park
would be kept intact and revitalised.
The idea of building the National Theatre in Erzsébet
Square did not meet with unanimous approval, nei-
ther among professionals nor within civil society.
The opponents of the plan raised objections against
the proposed density of the cultural institutions,
pointing out that the city centre was already over-
crowded. They objected to the projected increase in
urban traffic and the likely increase in air pollution.
Following the 1998 parliamentary elections, a new,
right-wing government was returned, which doubt-
ed the soundness of the Erzsébet Square urban
development proposal and halted the construction
of the National Theatre, even though a substantial
part of the special vibration-resistant underground
structure had been finished. This huge reinforced
concrete structure yawned empty for two years. In
the mordant vernacular of Pest, it became known as
the ‘National Hole’.
At this point, the government, together with the
municipality, proposed the enlargement of the
existing Erzsébet Park, in association with the
creation of a new urban open space and a new
cultural centre served by an underground car park,
which would utilise the existing concrete struc-
ture. In 2000, the Ministry of Culture announced a
design and planning competition. Architects were
discouraged by a very precise competition brief, a
difficult context and the memory of the long politi-
cal wrangles connected with the site, so only five
proposals were received. The jury decided not to
award prizes, but to appoint the Firka Architecture
Studio Ltd as consultants, both for planning and
design. Their entry had impressed with its clean,
constructivist forms, free from stylistic dissonance,
and the artistic, visual and functional opening onto
