Entrances to the market are situated next to the tramway stops along Joszefvaros freight yard


Western edge of the market at Joszefvaros freight yard





Layout of Four Tigers Market along the tracks of Joszefvaros freight yard

Stacked shipping containers, partly modified to serve as stalls and storage spaces


top view of the market stalls


Typologies of stalls and storage spaces at the Four Tigers Market
       
Euro Square
Expansion of 'Chinese' businesses into former Ganz factory opposite Four Tigers Market


Euro Square
Expansion of 'Chinese' businesses into former Ganz factory opposite Four Tigers Market


Typologies of stalls and storage spaces at the indoor market at former Ganz factory
   
   

The basic and also the most symbolic architectural unit of East Asian commerce is the shipping container, which can be found in the markets almost in its original form; initially used to ship goods into the country, they went under hardly any alterations to become stalls. The most usual setup is two containers put on top of each other. The bottom one serves as the shop itself, while the upper one is for storage (or office, resting space, etc.).

Points of sale installed in industrial halls adopted the same structure, practically adapting the same basic unit, which now is not the container, but a series of built stalls, which differ in the fact that they are not mobile and they are not built from prefabricated, re-used elements. Its variants appear in all those establishments where commerce has "moved into" existing built environments, like on the other side of Kőbányai út (opposite of Four Tiger).

The architecture of shopping centres has far less to do with the spontaneous systems of markets. If there are any similarities between the two structures, like aiming for the maximum density of points of sale to increase the economy of space, shopping centres already feature extra functions that would be unimaginable within the fully rational environment of the market (lifts, escalators, fountains, etc.). This is why Asia Center, for instance, is an interesting phenomenon: a hugely capital-intensive development, which is meant to provide an alternative to Chinese markets. The architecture of the building, however, does not serve this function, in part precisely because it employs a general architectural formula, which ignores how East Asian immigrant commerce works, and fails to satisfy its natural needs.