COMPLEX+ 2023 SPRING

LIST OF ADMITTED STUDENTS

COMPLEXLink 


COMPREHENSIVE (COMPLEX) DESIGN STUDIO
of the Department of Urban Planning and Design

New sustainable ways to develop Budapest’s inner city fringe

The question of what we can do if the Earth can no longer be our home in its current form is becoming increasingly accurate. In what directions can we go to tackle the climate crisis?
Can we contain the catastrophe with today’s energy interventions, or do we need alternative solutions that require more significant sacrifices?
During the Complex+ semesters, we will attempt to outline possible solutions for the regeneration of the still-under-conversion, disadvantaged but with huge potential, peripheral areas of Budapest’s inner city.

Our built environment – especially during climate change – is the product of a complex matrix of needs and opportunities constantly changing with the habits and behaviours of the society facing the new challenges of the future like overpopulation, sustainability and loneliness. Or cities consist primarily of residential buildings, and their spatial qualities and structure greatly define our everyday life. New housing forms will emerge over time to meet these new social life challenges, or the old ones need to be re-interpreted. During the semester, we are looking for these new possibilities of housing forms or hybrid buildings. We will rethink the existing residential structures from architectural, social, economic and sociological points of view.

During the course, we will study and analyse several social housing examples in Budapest, Vienna and other countries. The research (especially for MSc students) focusing on typologies will continuously go parallel to the semester. (According to our plans, a study trip to Vienna will be organized in spring, where contemporary developments will be visited with guidance from the department.)

The topic of the semester will be the same for the whole group.
The semester is divided into three parts: research about the topic, concept-making, and design process. We will start with common group work and continue with individual designs based on the common approach.

The semester site will be the same for everyone. It will be a few urban blocks in the historical tissue of Józsefváros, 8th district of Budapest (see aerial), with its challenging urban social and architectural environment and a large number of empty plots and infill possibilities. During the semester, we will deal with: urban renewal, historic typologies of Pest, infill developments, housing typologies: co-housing and social housing, urban sustainability,

Tutors: Arpad Szabo DLA, Flóra Perényi, Csaba Bajusz, Anna Losonczy (analysis and urban masterplan)

We can accept applications from a maximum of 8-10 students, with priority given to Msc students applying for the Urban Design specialisation.

APPLICATION
The schedule of the application follows the dean’s directive on the same topic
– so please make your preliminary application by noon Friday of the second week of the exam period (January 13th, 2023)
– the first preliminary ranking of the students will be announced here on the webpage until January 20th, 2023

CRITERIA OF RANKING:
The students will be chosen based on two criteria:

  • students of the Urban Specialization will be preferred for the course; nevertheless, the department has the definite intention also to admit students from the regular course
  • students will be ranked based on their previous works (simplified portfolio). For this, we expect each applicant to upload one file that has to include two projects (strictly not more and not less!): (1.) your Department Design 3 project from the previous semester and (2.) your favourite previous project (other than the DP3 project). Merge them into one pdf file, not larger than 20 MBs and upload it to the link below. 

FOR YOUR APPLICATION:

  • Sign up on the REGISTRATION FORM here (if you filled out the preliminary registration form already, you do not have to fill it out again): LINKLink
  • Upload your simplified portfolio (as explained above) here with your name in the file name: LINKLink