Faurest, Kristin: Ten spaces - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
Mátyás tér
ings — known in city records as Block 15 — was the subject of a massive rehabilitation project that involved knocking down several of the buildings' inner wings to open up a huge common yard of more than 8,000 square meters, renovating the remaining buildings. Initially the garden was open to everyone, but eventually all the buildings started closing their gates because the cloistered nature of the garden was ostensibly attracting criminal elements who wanted to conduct their business away from watchful eyes. The common garden, which is usually empty save for a few dog walkers, makes a curious juxtaposition with always-congested Klauzál tér in the sense that it gets little to no use, even though several hundred people dwell in the buildings surrounding it. It has a fine variety of trees, what used to be a small reflecting pool, a pergola rich with Virginia creeper, and furniture and playground equipment that, 20 years ago, might have looked quite nice. Somehow - perhaps because of the crime problems in its early days, or because the space is too big for any one family to feel ownership of it — the residents never developed a relationship with the space, which is a terrible shame. Although the gates of the buildings surrounding the garden are all usually closed, it is possible to view it quite well through the fence of the parking lot on the Dob utca side. It is testament to the words of sociologist William H. Whyte, who said that "it is difficult to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished”. Mátyás tér One of the qualities characterizing a fine public square is that is bears some kind of furniture or art piece that distinguishes it from all others - something that gives it a personality beyond the standard-issue wood-and- wrought-iron benches, European Union-standard play equipment and textbook list of low-maintenance shrubs. Here in Mátyás tér, that characteristic happens to be the seating that local schoolchildren made of recycled materials with help from the team that redesigned the square. The 27 colourful, comfortable stools are kind of emblematic of the square and its rebirth over the last few years from run37
