Following the completion of its Infinitus Plaza in China, the globetrotting Zaha Hadid Architects has now revealed plans to reshape a sizable chunk of inner-city Budapest, Hungary. The Zugló City Centre development will involve transforming a roughly 7-hectare (17-acre) site into a modern and energy efficient neighborhood filled with greenery.
The project also involves landscape designers LAND Italia and builders Bayer Construct Group, and will create new homes, retail space, and office space for the area, as well as restaurants and cafes, a new medical clinic, and a town hall. It will connect to a nearby creek and will add almost 35,000 sq m (roughly 376,000 sq ft) of communal green space, including a park, multiple plazas, and ponds. Pedestrian pathways and cycle paths will be added too, and 900 new trees will be planted for shading.
"It is a great honor for us to have won the architectural design tender for the development of Zugló City Centre," says Gianluca Racana, Director of Zaha Hadid Architects. "The project will create one of the greenest and most sustainable neighborhoods on the Pest side of the capital. The new city center, organically linked to the surrounding area and Rákos Creek, will equally offer residential, office, commercial and leisure services which will form a harmonious whole with the large green areas and community spaces that will be created. The complex development will also pay tribute to the architecture, culture and history of the beautiful capital, Budapest, while paving the way for the future with state-of-the-art solutions."
It's still early days yet but we know the buildings will be topped by green roofs and will feature a rainwater collection system for the storage and reuse of tens of thousands of gallons of rainwater per year, presumably for irrigation needs, though this isn't specified.
The orientation of the buildings and their overall design is to be carefully calculated to help regulate temperatures inside. Additionally, renewable energy will be used and a centralized system will monitor the amount of heat and power being used throughout to maximize energy efficiency.
It certainly looks like it's going to be a nice place to live but it will be a while before residents are able to move in. The project is due to begin construction in early 2022 and will be built in stages, with completion expected in 2029.
Source: ZHA