Special solutions both from an architectural and an urban planning standpoint will be used during the planning of Northern Pest's new centre.
Creative, talented young Hungarian architects carried the day at the international architectural idea proposal tender that was launched in the spring. Members of the Stoa Studio will now be able to work together with Europe's largest architectural design studio. Among many others, BDP's name is associated with the renewal and redesign of the Royal Albert Hall, the Vasco da Gama Center in Lisbon, and the plans for the Armada houses in the Netherlands. BDP, famous for its ingenious buildings and holistic approach, will place the huge, park-like public square in the focus of Károlyi István City Centre, intending it to play a community-forming role.
The new, quality services, as well as the architectural approaches in the city centre will serve this purpose, mainly, that the place become the main venue for the region's social life, acting as a genuine city centre. In addition to those living and working here, visitors should also be able to find the range of services for sports, cultural events, and leisure, for which they travel into the downtown area or across to Buda today. "This is why, when building the 90 metre long, 60 metre wide central square (one of the specialties of which is that it will be built with a gradual six-metre change in ground level between Váci út and Attila út), we have to imagine what people living in this part of the city 10-15 years from now will expect from a city centre," Tamás Járosi, the managing director of the investor Ceu-Reality told NAPI Real Estate. He said they did not want a dime-a-dozen investment, because they are convinced that a city section without its own identity will lose its value sooner or later, regardless of how high-quality its buildings are from a technical standpoint.
Another three years, and the city centre named after Count István Károlyi, one of the greatest "city-builders" of Újpest, will open a new chapter in the community lives of those living in the district. News also indicate that a high-rise will be included amongst the big-city, middle-class milieu as well.
