Millenáris Széllkapu – Gate of Winds

Origami park

“We dreamed of a recreational park which has its function, form and courage to be the space of a 21st century city dweller,” says Mihály Kádár, owner and CEO of the TSPC architectural studio. “The park shows the successful meeting of our ideas and the customer’s request: creation of rich flora, undergrounding of the previous parking lots, increasing the green surface and creating innovative architectural design. We believe the future of the cities is designed in green and Széllkapu park is a great start for Budapest.”

The park is organized into three units: the dense vegetation looks like a forest, the wildflower part is like the Hungarian fields, while at the meeting of the two units the 650 square meter lake evokes the world of fresh waters. In the architectural focus of the park three spectacular, individually designed solar panels have been placed by TSPC engineers: these structures provide shade and are also connected to the park’s energy supply.

Under the park there is a 500-space underground garage, an electric car charging station and a bicycle storage room. The vegetation appears here as well: the fair-faced concrete elements around the entrance are covered with a varied green surface. A water play has been placed next to the Margit Boulevard, on the side facing Kis Rókus street there is a previously opened playground with plenty of ropes, a baby changing restroom and a water block all perfect for the families. Two café buildings with terraces were designed for the visitors, while road planning and transport solutions also supported the community meeting point function.

Interesting facts about the project

• The largest vertical garden in Central Europe is a so-called three-dimensional wall, which means that instead of a simple decorative or covering function, the three floors can be walked on stairs and this structure takes visitors to the other part of the Millenáris Park without needing to cross a road.
• As a partner of the TSPC Group, the landscape architecture tasks were performed by the 4D Tájépítész Iroda (Csaba Majoros, Andrea Balogh), Parkertech Kft. (Czérna Zoltán) was responsible for the park construction work.
• The 4,000 square feet of pre-grown plants have a netting support to climb up and form a contiguous, vertical green surface. 30,000 plants were planted to create the wall. Solar panels have also been installed on the top floor, and the lookout point towards Margit Boulevard offers an unusual perspective of the surrounding streets.
• The 115-tree cherry grove was created from the planting of two types of cherry trees. The blossom period is in April and provides a special experience for visitors.
• 355 trees, 25,500 shrubs, 49,200 perennials, 22,000 ornamental grasses and 43,400 bulbous plants were planted in the park area.
• The water surface of the lake is 650 square meters, lakeside loungers make the relaxation better. There are also VPI Beton gravel benches in the park.