Floating Beach on the Danube

The Danube, which divides Budapest apart, is one of the most remarkable element of the city. It has an important role in the city's life, but urban folks can't get close to the river in their everyday life. To solve the problem, I propose a design of a floating beach which provides safe bathing in the Danube to discover its hidden treasures.

In my opinion people living in the capital would want a closer connection to the Danube. What else could be a better opportunity for this than to bathe in the Danube? In fact, Budapest is famous for being the City of baths, there are only few who considers the great Danube as an option for bathing. The most looks at it as the dirty water which divides the city. This prejudice is the legacy of the last 50 years when the everyday waste water was released to the Danube. However, thanks to the environmental improvements in the recent years, this is now only the past. The water running in the Danube is clean again and swimming would be possible in it. In the 19th century, it was already popular to bathe in the Danube. Based on the designs of Adam Clark and an example seen in Wien; anchored wooden frames were put into the water which were complemented by a metal basket, thus, swimmers were perfectly safe. In 1910 there were already 9 'wooden beaches' along the coast of the Danube, one of them was placed just before the Parliament. After the war when the pressured industrialism started, these mobile wooden beaches were not placed anymore. The official reasons were wood shortage and potential infection problems. What if it is time to reinvent great, old habits and to forget about all bad experiences regarding the Danube's water cleanliness and quality? In my diploma project, I undertook the idea to design a so called floating beach on the appropriate part of the Danube. The beach would be within easy reach from the city centre and its place could be changed according to the latest trends and preferences. Additionally, this mobile beach could not only be used during the beach season but also it would provide the basic conditions for bathing during wintertime as well. Summertime, urban folks would enjoy the cooling water of the Danube, wintertime, people could use the sauna built onto the river and splash into the cold water afterwards. The naturally given opportunities are waiting for to be discovered and facilitated again. With my project, I would like to show one perspective how it could be done.