The renovation of the southern park of the UP Medical School’s, facing Szigeti street, will begin in Spring 2024. Over 11 thousand square metres will get a new look, making the area in front of the old main building an open social space, adhering to the city image and also harmonising with the planned new façade of the old building.
The southern park of the Pécs Medical School is the outdoor-architecture foreground of the largest community building of the region, and also has an outstanding importance in the context of city architecture. “For visitors, this is the place of arrival; for faculty citizens, this area organises the social life of the building” – starts the introduction of the project Csaba Ders head architect, city planner.
“We wanted to design a park that personifies the foreground of the vivid life going on in the aula for faculty life, and is worthy of such a high prestige institution in both material use, infrastructure and natural environment. It must be attractive and accessible, its functions should support all forms of social life, and the microclimate created by the flora should create a liveable and pleasant environment even in summer heat” – he added.
Accessibility was a goal during design for the new park; therefore, an elegant walkway was planned. The defined border between university campus and public area will be removed with the demolition of the fence; arrival will be possible without transition by entering the Medschool campus via greenery – explained Anna Mária Tamás and Krisztián Kovács-Andor, designers of the plans and teachers at the UP Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology. They added, the the parking area in the middle of the southern park will be relocated to a less representative, more marginal area of faculty life during the construction.
The renewed southern park will have new social functions as well: outdoor furniture suitable for personal pr social leisure, study and eating will be added, and green coatings will be installed to make using the area more attractive. The designers are planning to use stone walkways and trimmings that will age well, reaching for tools that are worthy of the accentuated status of the Pécs Medical School block.
“During the project, green areas will be renewed so that they not only provide an aesthetic experience, but enable its users to spend as much quality time there as possible, be that studying, leisure activities or resting. Moreover unique, symbolic artworks and furniture will also be placed in the new park, like the parapet wall with the PTE ÁOK inscription and the unique rain shelter pavilion that will also be a gate motif” – emphasized the head architect.
The landscaping of the new, ultramodern Theoretical Block could be considered a prelude to the project, which will also create a unified space structure with the newly constructed Dental Education Centre on the opposite side of the street. The project, executed in one step, will affect an area of about 11 420 square metres, the execution plan is currently under public procurement. Realisation is expected within a year; according to plans, the first motions will happen in Spring this year, and construction is expected to take seven months.