Millenáris Széllkapu (Gate of Winds) Park Green Walls & 3-Dimensional Hanging Garden
Budapest, Hungary
969 sq. ft. Living Walls, 48,976 sq. ft. Green Façade, Overstructure & Onstructure Greenroofs + Solar Panels
(Video)

Greenroofs.com Featured Project September 7, 2023

Széllkapu Park, May, 2023. Image: Hlinka courtesy of Green Wall Design Kft.

The Millenáris Széllkapu (Gate of Winds) Park is a beautiful and sensitive example of rehabilitating a former industrial brownfield site into a thriving and refreshing greenspace for the citizens and visitors to Hungary’s capital city of Budapest.

Last June I had the distinct honor and pleasure to be a judge for the inaugural World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN) 2023 Global Awards for best green infrastructure practice, and Széllkapu Park was acknowledged as exemplary at the World Green Infrastructure Congress in Berlin 27 – 29 June 2023!

Image: TSPC, www.tspc.hu / Norbert Juhasz and Zsolt Hlinka

Landscape architects 4D Landscape Design (4D Tájépítész Iroda) received the 2023 Honorable Mention for Széllkapu Park in the Green Wall Category, and in my opinion this project would have won outright hands down were it not for the incredibly outstanding Kempegowda International Airport Terminal, India Green Walls (another fantastic example of living architecture which we’ll feature in the future)!

An interesting result of collaboration on this project is the fact that the various green walls were designed by a team including Andrea Balogh and Csaba Majoros of 4D Tájépítész Iroda (4D Landscape Design Ltd), Zoltán Czérna of Parkertech, and Ferenc Szentkirályi-Tóth of Adegy Kft. Due to the overwhelming success of these living walls and green façades within Széllkapu Park, they have teamed up under the name Green Wall Design (GWD) to continue and utilize their expertise to plan, build, and maintain green walls. Continued success!

Széllkapu Park, May, 2023. Image: Hlinka courtesy of Green Wall Design Kft.

Excerpt [only] from the Featured Project Series video (see the entire Greenroofs.com Project Profile):

Created by 4D Landscape Design Ltd and TSPC in a heavily polluted industrial zone in Budapest after four years of planning and implementation, the Millenáris Széllkapu (Gate of Winds) is a modern 35,000 m2 recreational park which significantly contributes to the green areas of the capital. Széllkapu Park boasts the largest 3-dimensional vertical garden in Central Europe and has one of the largest green wall areas of Europe with its 5,000 m2 overall surface.

In addition, the green zone’s diverse grandiose architectural elements include several modular living walls, a cherry tree grove, a forest-field-lake trio, a spectacular design of freestanding solar panel structures, and 355 new trees which now grace the former brownfield. Approximately 30% of the park was built on the top of a 20,000 m2 underground car park using green roof technology, along with several green roof structures on top.

Széllkapu Park, May, 2023. Image: Hlinka courtesy of Green Wall Design Kft.

The installation of the hanging façade is an integral part of the park itself, allowing park users to enjoy a truly 3-dimensional view of the green spaces, as it blocks out the firewall of a huge shopping mall from the view inside the park.

Designed, constructed and maintained by Green Wall Design Ltd, three types of green walls found here are a Hungarian-developed modular system on the concrete façades of the buildings planted with perennials; pre-grown ivy panels serve as a waterfall background whose curtain of water draws out letters that would be illegible without the dark, evergreen background; and most spectacular element is the 230 m long steel structure with wire mesh supplied by Jakob Rope Systems, the three-dimensional hanging garden, with partial solar panels on the top floor.

Széllkapu Park, May, 2023. Image: Hlinka courtesy of Green Wall Design Kft.

The total length of the double-sided, 4-story hanging garden installation is 230 m (6.6 m wide and 19.3 m high at the top). The pre-grown wire mesh panel method provided approximately 70% green coverage immediately after the opening of the park in 2020. A total of 15 types of creeping plants were used on the hanging wall, and 10 types of perennials on the modular green walls. Its high-tech irrigation, nutrient management system and its structural solutions are unique in Central Europe.

The walls provide habitat, nesting place and food resources for small bird species and pollinators and the biological activity in the area has more than tripled with the construction of the park. Due to its success, and for the first time in Hungarian legislation, in 2022 the local building regulations obliged developers to build 5-10% green frontage on new office or commercial buildings with a frontage of more than 500 m2.

Széllkapu Park, May, 2023. Image: Hlinka courtesy of Green Wall Design Kft.

More

Visitors can ride the panoramic elevators or climb up through the cool interior of the 3-D hanging garden and enjoy beautiful park vistas. In fact, a 10°C difference can be found between the sunny versus shaded areas of the hanging façade. After its first few years, the green wall designers say Széllkapu Park and the 3-Dimensional Hanging Garden are a great success which already has had an extraordinary impact on the architecture and green space culture of Central Europe.

The architects say they wanted to create an enclosed green bay in which the flora feels good; and the origami-like folding of Széllkapu Park, playing with shapes and bold architectural details, can be fun and delightful for visitors while the Gate of Winds provides a much-needed breath of fresh air.

Image: TSPC, www.tspc.hu / Norbert Juhasz and Zsolt Hlink

Year: 2020
Owner: Millenáris Széllkapu Nonprofit Kft.
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Building Type: Park
Type: Greenwalls
System: Custom & Single Source Provider
Green Wall Size Total: 49,945 sq.ft.
Living Walls: 969 sq. ft.
Green Façade: 48,976 sq. ft.
Slope: 100%
Access: Accessible, Public

Image: TSPC, www.tspc.hu / Norbert Juhasz and Zsolt Hlink

Credits:

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT:
ANDREA BALOGH AND CSABA MAJOROS, 4D TÁJÉPÍTÉSZ IRODA (4D LANDSCAPE DESIGN LTD)

GREEN WALL DESIGN:
4D TÁJÉPÍTÉSZ IRODA (4D LANDSCAPE DESIGN LTD)

ARCHITECT OF THE PARK AND GREEN WALL FRAME STRUCTURES:
ATTILA FEKETE AND MIHÁLY KÁDÁR, TSPC

PARK CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR (GREEN WALLS, FAÇADES AND GREEN ROOFS):
PARKERTECH

PRE GROWN PLANTS AND TRELLIS SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION:
ZOLTÁN CZÉRNA, PARKERTECH

IRRIGATION SYSTEM DESIGN & EXECUTION:
FERENC SZENTKIRÁLYI-TÓTH, ADEGY KFT

GREEN WALL CONSTRUCTION:
ADEGY KFT

MAIN CONTRACTOR:
WEST HUNGARIA BAU KFT. ÉS GARAGE KFT

GREEN FAÇADE WIRE MESH SUPPLIER:
JAKOB ROPE SYSTEMS

MODULAR GREEN WALL SYSTEM:
GREENWALL.PRO, ADEGY KFT.

Széllkapu Park, 2020. Image: TSPC, www.tspc.hu / Norbert Juhasz and Zsolt Hlink

Széllkapu Park, May, 2023. Image: Hlinka courtesy of Green Wall Design Kft.

See the Project Profile

See the Millenáris Széllkapu (Gate of Winds) Park Green Walls & 3-Dimensional Hanging Garden Project Profile to view ALL of the Photos and Additional Information about this particular project in the Greenroofs.com Projects Database.

Széllkapu Park, May, 2023. Image: Hlinka courtesy of Green Wall Design Kft.

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By Linda S. Velazquez, ASLA, LEED AP, GRP
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