A place where it feels good to be, and which also serves as a reminder

"It is good that there are more and more women in engineering professions, even because of the proverbial female precision," says Zsuzsa Fischer, the granddaughter of the first Hungarian female engineer, when we ask her what she thinks about the achievements of emancipation in recent decades while walking around the site of the future Eszter Pécsi Grove.

The reason for our meeting is the announcement of the final results of the competition to design a park in memory of Eszter Pécsi on the BME campus. From the three entries that had previously made it to the second round, the jury selected the design by Enikő Sarolta Rab and Nóra Kőhalmy (collaborators: István Ferdinándy and Judit Mária Gál), the visual design of which can be seen in the opening image. And this is what the wooded area would look like from one of the second-floor windows of Building K:

Eszter Pécsi (née Pollák) was the first Hungarian woman to obtain an engineering degree. She received her structural engineer's diploma on International Women's Day (also her birthday), March 8, 1920, at BME. Among other things, she designed the Hajós Alfréd National Swimming Pool on Margaret Island, the National Traumatology Center on Fiumei Road (the first medium-height steel-framed building in Budapest), and the hospital on Kútvölgyi Road. After World War II, she participated in the reconstruction of the capital.

Eszter Pécsi's diploma

Her husband, architect József Fischer, was a minister in the third government of Imre Nagy in 1956, so after the revolution was crushed, Eszter Pécsi first left for Austria and then the United States. Initially, she drew up structural plans for buildings designed by her old friend Marcell Breuer, then worked for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, designing the structures of tower blocks. In 1965, she was named Structural Engineer of the Year for developing a special foundation method. She died in New York in 1975. A conference room at BME has been named after her six years ago, and since 2022, the university has been recognizing outstanding high school teachers of natural sciences with an award bearing her name.

But why will there be a park named after him in the garden? "The starting point was that there are many statues of men here, but 

not a single notable female engineer has been immortalized in a statue, even though there have been many over the past hundred years who deserve to be remembered. 

Not to say anything else, my mother, Margit Pázmándi, was the first female architect to win the Ybl Prize twice, but hardly anyone knows her name anymore. My grandmother's story is somewhat better known, partly because BME does a lot to preserve her memory," adds Zsuzsa Fischer, who is herself a structural engineer.

As can be seen, this is a veritable dynasty of architects and civil engineers, so much so that Zsuzsa Fischer's daughter, Franciska Tézli-Szabó, graduated as a landscape architect and, and as a representative of the family, is a member of the competition jury.

The co-chair of the jury is György Alföldi, professor at the Faculty of Architecture, who, together with Györgyi Dallos, secretary of the Pro Progressio Foundation, came up with the idea of preserving Eszter Pécsi's name in a grove rather than a single statue. "The challenge of the competition announced by BME and the foundation was to find a way to create a space suitable for remembrance today. Here in the park, we see bronze busts of famous university personalities, a practice from another era. It was suggested that a student space would be a more appropriate solution today. 

The task for the applicants was therefore very difficult, as on the one hand they had to emphasize Eszter Pécsi, but at the same time they had to make sure that students could actually use these spaces," 

explains György Alföldi.

Zsuzsa Fischer and György Alföldi at the site of the futuren grove

Zsuzsa Fischer also shares a few details about how Eszter Pécsi became the first female engineer in Hungary. "She was able to be the first because she completed her four-year high school education in three years, which meant she could start university a year earlier — though not at home, but in Berlin, as women were not yet accepted into engineering programmes in Hungary at that time. Once this opportunity opened up, she completed her studies at BME and graduated with excellent results.

Zsuzsa Fischer at BME's visitor centre

The situation today is very different in that both internationally and in Hungary, female engineers account for 40 percent of the total, and women form a majority among students at the Faculty of Architecture. However, it is still true that there are significant disparities in the politics of memory. 

It is important to draw attention to this and student initiatives, the Faculty of Architecture's Architectural College, and the Girlscanscan collective play a major role in this, 

says György Alföldi.

Speaking of the future park, he notes that there have been huge changes in landscape architecture recently, primarily in the plants used. Due to climate change, designs must be made so that the vegetation can withstand not only current weather conditions, but also the expected drier and warmer conditions of the future. For example, where previously lawns were planned, now special plant communities are needed that will not burn out in the summer. Another consideration is that, in the spirit of sustainability, the demolished concrete pavements will be recycled.

And does Zsuzsa Fischer think there is still work to be done in the area of women's equality? "Even my grandmother used to say that a woman should not make mistakes, and I think it's still better to stick to that," she replies with a laugh.

The next step in the development of Eszter Pécsi Grove is to sign contracts with the winners of the tender and then prepare the implementation plans.

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