Plant The City

Competition: Year: Team: Award: Publication: ALGECO “Giving Social Housing a Human Touch” International Competition 2020 Johanna Bató, Barna Berzsák, Simon Péter Rónai Hungarian 1st Prize, International Top 20

In the last couple of years, numerous community gardens have been created around Budapest and in other cities all around Europe. These gardens are maintained by the residents of the cities, existing to provide an opportunity for the inhabitants to get the experience of gardening, planting, growing their plants inside the dense city where they are usually not able to, and it also originates contact between the users. We chose an existing community garden in the 8th District of Budapest, a neighborhood which is a good example for an undeveloped area with high cultural heritage, community, and identity. We created an adaptable proposal for a toolkit to develop not just this but even other community gardens. These modules can be installed either together or one by one, according to the needs of the particular gardens. The first box is a small shop that could provide a platform for the users to sell their plants and to make income to sustain the garden financially, the second box is a summer kitchen, the third one is a community space, the fourth one is a storage with a restroom. The walls of all the modules can be opened up and it can make covered spaces between two modules. With solar panels, rainwater collectors and composters installed, all the boxes can be self-supporting, without connecting to the utilities. The facades are designed to trigger community activity as it is covered with several empty flowerpots that could be filled with plants by time. The production could become consistent all year if a greenhouse is installed. Our proposal can be adapted to other community gardens. These gardens can teach the inhabitants to live a sustainable, environmentally conscious life.