ÚJPEST NEW MARKET HALL AND UP CULTURAL EVENT SPACE

The market place has always been the centre of the district, but late-modern market buildings and their service areas occupied the public space. The purpose of the current transformation is to give this space back to pedestrians by replacing the market.

The new market hall, in front of the old one, deposes all loading, storage and parking facilities to underground levels. Therefore, it can be the continuation of the prospective outdoor public space, while the two-story cultural centre on the top is a vertical extension. In this way the building is opened both programmatically and visually, it exposes all its operational systems, structures and materials, and it is a neutral framework of a colourful market and cultural life.

Since the upper levels have to be attractive and accessible, a visually accentuated lobby was placed in the face of the square. The transparent lobby is to be a link between the prospective promenade on the first-floor and the rooftop garden on the second floor creating a flowing green public space.