SAMT : ARCHITEKTUR / STÄDTEBAU

A SPACE TO BE REMEMBERED

What is a revival?
What does revival of a district mean?
Can revival be planned ahead?
Shouldn't it come into being on its own?
May it stick to the past?
Mustn't it be able to be unpredictable?

The old Jewish quarter of Budapest does not need a top down projected remediation.
The quarter needs people.
People who are treating the qualities of the place regardfully.
People who actively create this place and bring it alive.

If those people haven't found this place yet - what must it provide to attract them?
Is there an offer they would not disclaim?
An offer that presents the place in a favourable new light?

Could it be a museum, a square or a park?
Would a precious pavement be sufficient?
How about spectacular architecture?
Or could it just be by money?

And if this offer would be just a space?
A space like a gift?
A space belonging to the entire city?
That stabilizes the city around it and queries it?
A space around which the district can redefine and research itself?
A public space that enriches every-day-life by offering one unique experience?
An experience only this space can provide?

Where one can truly sense sky and earth.
Where one can be quite aware of himself.

Is there a space conceivable that absorbs and transforms the districts energy?
Its history, its stories, its murals and ghosts?
Its light, its material and air?
Its scent and its sound?
Its history and its future?
Its people?

A space a power station alike.
Like a looking-glass of the city.
Nothing but space - doing without function.
Nothing but space, where anything can be done.
Where anything seems possible and conceivable.

A space that calmly lets the day pass by.

A space to be remembered like a landscape.