Reference: 1.'Tulips and prefabrication:Hungarian architects in the bind of state socialist modernization in the 1970s"by Virag Molnar, Princeton University

1. HUNGARY, IMRE MAKOVECZ, PECS
GROUP

2. HUNGARYHUNGARY IS SITED IN A REGION OF EUROPE ATTAINED BY THE WAVE OF TECHNICAL CIVILIZATION
WITH A STILL LIVELY ANCESTRAL FOLK ART. THIS CIRCUMSTANCE OFFERS THE POSSIBILITY TO
CREATE A PECULIAR NATIONAL STYLE BY SYNTHESIZING BOTH CULTURAL
COMPONENTS, FORWARDED BY A PARTICULAR SENSITIVITY ARISEN IN THE CENTURIES OF
ENDANGERED NATIONAL EXISTENCE. AFTER 1945, MODERN, NEW ARCHITECTURE APPEARED TO
BE EXCLUSIVE IN HUNGARY. AFTER 1950, THE "SOCIALIST REALISM" STYLE FORCIBLY CREATED BY
POLITICAL DECISION INVOLVED TRIALS “ WITH VERNACULAR, ARCHAIZING CONSTRUCTIONS
BUT THIS TREND DID NOT LAST LONG. MODERN ARCHITECTURE BECAME A HUGE SUCCESS IN
1960s, WITH ALL STRUCTURES BEING BOX-LIKE. EVERY BUILDING HAD A CURTAIN WALL
FACADE, WITH NO CULTURAL OR SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE DESIGNS.
AFTER 1960, TWO TRENDS REPRESENTING DIFFERENT APPROACHES HAVE ACTED. ONE IS
TECHNICISM INCORPORATED BY HOUSING ESTATES BUILT 'WITH PANEL STRUCTURES CRITICIZED
FOR THEIR RIGIDITY. THE OTHER IS THE TREND OF "POPULAR POST-MODERNISM" ATTEMPTING A
REVIVAL OF FOLK TRADITIONS – A RESPONSE TO PECULIAR HUNGARIAN CONDITIONS.

3. • MASS PRODUCTION OF HOUSES TO A CERTAIN EXTENT
RELIEVED HOUSING SHORTAGE IN CITIES, BUT THE
PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THESE WERE MANY, AND
ARCHITECTURE LOST IDENTITY
• SOME ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TRYING TO
COMBINE THE ADVANTAGES OF MASS PRODUCTION
AND NON WASTAGE OF MATERIALS WITH UNIQUENESS
INCORPORATING IDENTITY OF SITE WERE ALSO
TRIED..ARCHITECTURAL EXPERIMENTATION AND
INNOVATIONS HAPPENED..ONE SUCH ALTERNATIVE
CAME FROM IMRE MAKOVECZ.

4. Organic Architecture
•
•
•
•

7. Sir Georg Solti Matyas Rakosi, Hungary's Stalinist Dictator, Is Buried In This
Extraordinary And Unprecedented Mortuary Chapel. The Winged Doors Of This
Architectural Cave Open To Reveal A Timber Simulacrum Of The Human Torso. The
Dead Rest In Caskets Where The Heart Would Be, If This Building, Designed By Imre
Makovecz, Was Alive. On Quiet Days, And With Candles Flickering, It Is Easy To
Imagine The Building Breathing.
• Materials are natural
stone, whitewashed brick
masonry, thatched roofing.
• Interiors exhibit daring
carpentry timberwork; inside
and outside we find expressive
forms deduced from
Hungarian rural
architecture, individually
Interpreted.

8. HE DESIGNED BUILDINGS FOR SUMMER CAMPS IN FORESTS, IN A NATURAL
ENVIRONMENT, TRYING TO INTEGRATE NATURE. OUTSIDE COATINGS LOOK LIKE BARK OR
HIDES OF ANIMALS. THE HUT OF THE TOKAJ YOUTH CAMP (1978), CARPENTERED BY THE
YOUNG PEOPLE THEMSELVES UNDER HIS GUIDANCE, LOOKS LIKE A PERCHING BIRD FROM
OUTSIDE, WHILE ITS INNER, UNCONCEALED FRAMEWORK SUPPORTS THE VAULT WITH
STRETCHED WINGS. HIS MOST SUCCESSFUL BUILDINGS ARE THOSE EXPLOITING HIS MOTION
TESTS. AMONG THEM, THE FINEST IS THE MORTUARY IN THE FARKASRET CEMETERY, WITH
CODESIGNER GABOR MEZEI. THE TIMBER RIBS REMIND ONE OF THE GREAT WHALE
ABDOMEN:
HOWEVER APPROPRIATE THE DIRECT, NATURALIST REFERENCES TO NATURAL ORGANISMS
SEEM FOR THESE EXCEPTIONAL BUILDINGS, A CORRECTNESS OF THIS METHOD TO SOLVE
ACTUAL, EVERYDAY PROBLEMS SEEMS DOUBTFUL. THESE DOUBTS WERE DISPERSED BY THE
RECENT HOUSE OF CULTURE IN SAROSPATAK, ESPECIALLY THROUGH THE RAISED
ATTRACTION BY TIMBERED INNER SPACES. THE BUILDING RECEIVES ITS VISITORS WITH
RAISED BROWS, EYES OPENED ,WIDE, OPEN ARMS. THE BUILDING ASSUMES A
FRIENDLY, HUMAN FACE WHICH, TRANSPOSED INTO THE CONVENTIONALIZED
STRUCTURE, ELICITS THE DESIRED EMOTIONAL RESPONSE. HOUSE OF CULTURE IN
SAROSPATAK IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CREATIONS OF RECENT HUNGARIAN
ARCHITECTURE.

9. • The Hungarian Pavilion, 92 World
EXPO, Sevilla, Spain, lies along a
north-south axis. Inside, two
walls stretch across the building's
diagonal. Each wall is three
metres apart from the other.
Seven towers stand on top of this
double wall. To the west of the
double wall can be found all
those areas that project what
Western Hungary is like, while the
eastern section naturally
represents Eastern Hungary. At
the same time, the wall
constantly talks. Its voice is
sometimes louder or softer, but it
is always saying something.

10. •
•
•
Built from wood carved in folk styles
and bearing a gray slate roof, it
seems inspired by village churches
but leaps beyond any one model
with an exuberance that recalls
Antonio Gaudi.
The interior is divided, one portion
symbolizing Hungary facing the
West, with a simplified Baroque
church front. Pass through that
facade and one finds Hungary facing
East, the wall exploding with
undulating Slavic-style facades (more
gray slate) and carved portals. There
is also a "Tree of Life" on the
Western side, a jumble of roots and
branches with a glass floor so that
visitors can see the whole thing.
The 22-minute tour is reinforced
with pungent Hungarian folk music
and vivid lighting and, on the Eastern
side, a film and video show of the
sort inescapable at this latest and
most high-tech of international
expositions

11. real upswing in Hungarian architecture was born through a group of young
architects in Pecs. Their methods were not those of the Post-Modernists; they
were not selecting elements of past architectural styles and applying them
randomly; but an architecture of social purpose and quiet contemplation.
Their sense of responsibility is shown by attempting to tackle the most
difficult problems, the revival of panel houses, hopelessly schematic blocks of
the Paks housing estate (1973-78). These experimental, so-called "Tuliphouses" raised arduous debates because the ornaments came from folklore of
Hungary. Playful, curved loggia sidewalls and displaced building blocks were
more effective to lend expressivity and liveliness to the building. In the
mournful battlefield of standard buildings, the most successful work of the
young architects from Pecs is a school complex in Kaposvars. The most
promising and perspective creations are those with a character defined by the
original, natural construction design experimented on self-made models
rather than by natural-organic Ornaments.

12. • GEORGY CSETE

13. •Search for native architecture
•Peasant architecture
•Powerful symbolism of folk culture