hungary

The first edition of Lift@Hungary sets the scene in the Eastern Quartier of Pécs at a historical coal mining site, an outstanding architectural merit, now part of the city's cultural heritage. As European Capital of Culture in 2010, Pécs attracts international attention as a cultural pole on the periphery of the European Union. Departing from this context Lift @ Eastern Quartier addresses the possibilities of new technologies in the socio-cultural periphery of a changing post-industrial urban landscape. It turns this particular locality and its challenges into the centre of the attention of architects, artists, social scientists from the region and from regional media labs with the objective to explore and connect with recent discussions regarding urban computing and situated technologies and extend the discourse to specific regional issues and problems.

The aim of the workshop is to explore the implications of urban information systems for architecture and urban design, disciplines that have been largely absent from the mostly technologist-driven discussions of "ubiquitous" computing but nevertheless can provide new insights and alternative perspectives on the implications of "networked objects" for urban culture, newly emerging spatial practices and organizational forms.

Luca Csepely-Knorr, a landscape architecture graduate and PhD student at the Corvinus University of Budapest, has been awarded the 2010 Goldfinger Scholarship by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The award will go towards her MPhil course at the Art & Design Department, Manchester Metropolitan University during the academic year 2010/11.

Erno Goldfinger and Luca Csepely-Knorr

Luca receives £14,000 to support her research, and pay for her fees during the academic year. Her research will focus on the work of Béla Rerrich (1881-1932), Hungary’s first town planner and one of the founders of landscape architectural education in Hungary, and Thomas Mawson (1861-1933), an English town planner and the Windermere garden designer. 

According to a popular anecdote recounted by Ede Teller, Hungarian-Americans' were often called Martians for being aliens of the community at the time. These Martians have contributed notably not only to the visual arts in Hollywood, and to science in the atomic age, but also to architecture around the world. Martians with Slide-rules reported about the contributions of ten Hungarians, who were well-known international figures in their time, but their work remained unknown in Hungary.

Five Hungarian-born author-illustrators who enjoyed, and continue to enjoy great success in the American and/or British market, but are not known in Hungary. Our list features authors who have won international art and publishing or library association awards for their writing or illustrations, with some turned into TV shows, cartoons, or other information programs. Many of their works remain in print, and are popular readings for young and old alike. Even with colorful international careers, their work shows strong ties to Hungary and the Hungarians. All these authors wrote and illustrated picture books, children's readers or folk tale collections with Hungarian characters or themes. Their retellings of Hungarian folk and fairy lore are illustrated by lavish, unique imagery.

The winning Hungarian pavilion design for the World Expo 2010 Shanghai uses as its central element the so-called Gömböc. Invented by two Hungarian engineers, Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi, the Gomboc is the world’s first self-righting object.

Designed by Tamás Lévai, the pavilion approached the Expo’s theme “Better City, Better Life” in a philosophical way. By highlighting Hungarian creativity, the pavilion’s design is based on a specific feature, the Gomboc, rather than entertaining visitors with shows and exhibits. The architecture and design of the pavilion itself expresses Hungary’s main message. In addition, the Gomboc has a close, ideological relationship with Yin Yang, both symbolizing the pursuit of balance and harmony. According to Lévai, “This is what Hungarians wish to achieve in urban development as well.”

In our everyday rush, sometimes we do not realize that as we stare at the pavement in front of us we are actually passing through hallowed grounds. An amazing number of churches and synagogues of various denominations dot the map of Budapest. Many of them are significant not only for religious reasons, but also for aesthetic, artistic, and historical reasons as well. These buildings shed light on the original town and its inhabitants, and on how the religious life and church influence shaped the development of the growing metropolis from the second half of the 19th century onward. During our 3 hour tour, we visit eight churches representing eight different denominations (we look at six from the inside as well). During our time together, you will learn about the basic tenets of the different religions, the formation of the buildings, and the significance of the various parts of the city. Last but not least, we will share with you colorful stories about the long-ago city and its legendary inhabitants.

Itinerary: Belvárosi plébániatemplom, Március 15. tér (Parish Church, 15. March square)– Nagyboldogasszony Magyar Ortodox Székesegyház Petőfi tér (Blessed Virgin Mary Hungarian Orthodox Cathedral, Petőfi square) – Szervita téri katolikus templom (Catholic Church of Servita square) – Deák téri evangélikus templom (Evangelich Church of Deák square) – Rumbach Sebestyén utcai zsinagóga (Synagogue of Sebestyén Rumback street)– Szent István Bazilika, Szent István tér (Saint Stephen’s Basilique, Saint Stephen square) – Hazatérés református templom, Szabadság tér (Homecoming Calvinist Church, Liberty square)– Hold utcai református templom (Calvinist Church of Moon street) – Nagy Ignác utcai unitárius templom (Unitarian Church of Ingnatius the Great square)

The international exhibition held in Venice every second year, known as the Venice Biennale is the most important foreign event of Hungarian architecture. The Art Nouveau style pavilon planned by Géza Maróti is one of the oldest buildings of Giardini, the area that hosts the event: last year was the pavilon's 100th anniversary. In the majority of this time the building gave place to exhibitions of fine and applied arts, since the Biennale itself only gained importance in the nineties. The forthcoming event will be the twelfth.

The displays of Hungarian architecture were so far accompanied by fierce debates at home and thick silence abroad. One of the more successful examples was the 1996 exhibition of Gábor Bachman, currently working in China. The event brought international popularity to the architect unrecognized in Hungary. Other such examples were the 2002 exhibition displaying the work of the three famous Hungarian masters (István Ferencz, Tamás Nagy and Gábor Turányi), and Re:orient, dealing with the situation of the Chinese minority in Hungary. The latter received positive criticism both in Hungary and abroad. Corpora-project, a Hungarian-Japanese exhibit of the previous Biennale in 2008 was based on virtual techniques and computer programming. It also referred to the question „whether current tendencies in Hungarian architecture allow us to claim international professional recognition.”

A major investment is about to begin in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts (in Hungarian: Szépművészeti Múzeum), or more precisely, under and in front of the Museum. The building that hosts one of the most important art collections of Central-Europe will be enlarged with two underground levels. The extension will be accompanied by the restructuring of the space in front of the Museum. Some of the plans were published earlier, but by now, the final plans for the underground-entrance are ready, which were made by Hungarian architects Tamás Karácsony and his team.

No major changes are to be expected on the surface. Practically there will be only one new, characteristic building on the corner of the Museum, the entrance, the plans of which were recently completed. The sculpture-like structure contains an elevator and staircases. Its composition does not mimic Neo-Classicism, merely follows its logic – emphasises Tamás Karácsony.

The tent-roofed cube house is the most characteristic countryside building type of 20th century Hungary. Everybody is familiar with it, since there are ten thousands of similar houses throughout our towns.

After the advance of the Communist Regime in Hungary, from the 1950’s one of the most important goals of the authority that defined itself as „workers' and peasants' goverment” was to provide homes for as many, and as soon as possible. The consecutive five-year plans increased the pace of house building throughout the country. As a result, by 1965 230 thousand appartments were constructed, providing new homes to almost a million people. Most of these were in condominiums or building estates.

Áron Lőrincz has already gained reputation in the architect circles of Budapest. From time to time he shocks the public with new short films posted on his blog solidfill. His latest work shows the city from an outer space perspective. Looking close, the object that first seems like a space-elevator turns out to be something different...

In fact, Áron's super-tower on Nagyvárad Square does not scrape the sky. With its 89 meter height however, it is still among the tallest buildings of the city. Built in 1978 for the Semmelweis University then called SOTE its official name is Nagyvárad Square Academic Block.

Hungary’s only entry in 2009’s World Architecture Festival was chosen as best of the “Future Projects – Competition Entries” category for its design of the new cemetery in Szentendre, Hungary. In addition to winning one of the 25 categories, the A4 Studio finished second overall in the final round of judging.

Close to 1,500 entries were received and judged by a panel of distinguished architects, including Sir Peter Cook of the U.K., who praised the Hungarian entry for its unique fit with the environment, the elegant and sacred details, as well as the sensitive, artistic graphic design worthy of the function.