Dezeen Competitions: Rákosrendező Masterplan – Urban and Public Space Design Competition calls for designers to submit a masterplan for an urban development project in Budapest, Hungary.

Entrants' proposals should use the city's Rákosrendező brownfield area and create a new space for the public.

This competition is now closed

Organiser: Budapest Capital Asset Management Centre (BFVK)
Competition: Rákosrendező Masterplan – Urban and Public Space Design Competition
Judges:

• Gergely Karácsony, mayor of Budapest
• Dávid Vitézy, chair of the Climate Protection, Transport and Urban Development Committee of the Budapest General Assembly
• Regő  Lánszki, national chief architect
• Zoltán Eró, chief architect of Budapest
• Sándor Bardóczi, chief landscape architect of Budapest
• Beáta Binó, chief architect of Budapest district
• Katalin Massányi, chief architect of Budapest district
• Andreas Trisko, director of Urban Development, Vienna
• Petr Hlaváček, deputy mayor for Regional Development and Urban
  Planning, Prague
• Melinda Benkó, delegate of the Hungarian Chamber of Architects
• Gergely Árenás, delegate of the Real Estate Developers' Round Table
• Balázs Barts, CEO of BFVK
• Bálint Dományi, head of the Rákosrendező project office at BFVK
• János Mészáros, deputy chief executive officer for strategy and economics at BKM
• Judit Rab, head of public space and transport infrastructure development at BKK
• Ute Albrecht, CEO of Budapest Urban Planning Ltd at BFVT
• János Balázs Kocsis, associate professor at Corvinus University
• Samu Szemerey, architect and urban designer
• Beatrix Frankfurt, senior project expert at Rákosrendező project office, BFVK

Submission deadline: within the first phase, participants will need to submit their pre-qualification documents before 4 November. Within the second phase, entrants will need to submit their masterplan proposals by 27 January 2026
Winner announcement: 19 March 2026
Prizes: the total budget available for winning masterplan proposals is €360,000. The maximum about for the first prize is €45,000, with additional prizes including €7500 and €12,500

Click here to enter ›

Competition overview:

Budapest Capital Asset Management Centre, acting on behalf of the Municipality of Budapest as the contracting authority, has announced a two-phase, single-round international architectural design competition.

The purpose is to select a designer to prepare a masterplan necessary for the implementation of a complex urban development project involving the elimination of Budapest's Rákosrendező brownfield area, and, based on this, the development plans for the public space network of the new district.

Rákosrendező is one of Budapest's most promising brownfield development areas. It is a largely abandoned railway yard, 86 hectares of which have recently been acquired by the Municipality of Budapest and its wholly owned company, BKM.

The aim of the competition is for the contracting authority, to select a design team that is prepared to carry out the tasks involved in the preparation of a complex, large-scale project.

The municipality will deliver complex urban developments on the former railway yard, using the best contemporary urban design solutions, which lead to the renewal of the area as an urban, largely residential district that is sustainable from both an environmental and social perspective.

Proposals should:

• Consider the characteristics of the site as a source of creativity
• Be capable of turning visionary ideas into reality with engineering precision
• Able to mobilise a wide range of expertise
• Outline the knowledge and ambition necessary to design an exemplary urban district
• Combine an innovative approach with respect for tradition, and have expertise in all areas and scales of urban, architectural and technical design

Key figures and principles of the planning programme are as follows:

• Proposals should have a planning area of 244 hectares, including the core development area of 149 hectares
• The design should be a dense but liveable urban district with a gross floor area of up to 1,250,000 square metres
• At least 8,000, preferably 10,000 apartments
• Practical application of the "15-minute city" principle by providing (public) services that meet everyday needs
• It should include a public space network in line with the scale of Budapest
• It should also include a public park of at least 25 hectares and an extensive green network
• The creation of an urban centre and an intermodal transport hub serving at least 20,000 passengers per day at the Rákosrendező railway station
• It should also include a transport system based on public transport and active mobility
• Proposals should outline technical solutions with a low ecological footprint, climate resilience and healthy living conditions
• Local energy production
• It should use complex, unified green and blue infrastructure network
• Should include a scheduled feasibility, economically realistic investment programme

Eligibility and judging criteria

The competition is open to all.

For information on the entry requirements and the judging criteria, visit the organisation's website.

Submission deadlines

The competition is split into a participation phase (a pre-qualification phase) and a competition phase (the design phase).

Within the participation phase, there are three deadlines: 9 October for submitting questions, 22 October for submitting answers and 4 November for submitting pre-qualification documents.

Results of the qualification phase will be announced on 18 November.

The competition phase begins on 18 November with an onsite inspection on 25 November. There are three deadlines: 2 December for submitting questions, 16 December for providing answers and 27 January for submitting the completed masterplans.

The competition's results will be announced on 19 March 2026.

The Budapest Capital Asset Management Centre

BFVK was established by the municipality to manage Budapest marketable assets, including real estate properties and company shares efficiently and professionally and with a focus on maximising economic returns.

In addition to managing municipal assets, the company also oversees its own real estate and shares, and offers services to other market participants.

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