From the turn of the millennium to the present day: a unique publication on the architecture of Budapest
György Palkó, photographer and architect Anett Mizsei, published a special presentation for the last 20 years in our capital: in addition to Hungarian, it was also published in English. The architecture of Budapest 2000-2020 The book presents the contemporary architecture of the capital from the period marked in the title through a 50 + 1 project. We also had the opportunity to talk to György Palkó about the creation of the book.
The publication was compiled according to a well-thought-out concept, from the photos of György Palkó and the texts of Anett Mizsei. Krisztina Somogyi, an architectural critic, visual environment researcher, editor and art historian and curator Dániel Kovács, played an important role in the editing and projects, and the design of the book is connected to Balázs Sipos.
The 239-page volume can be created with the main support of ALUKÖNIGSTAHL Kft. And KRÜLLUNG Árnyékolástechnika Kft., As well as with the support of KÖZTI Zrt., Market Építő Zrt. And the Prime Minister’s Office. György Palkó also added that all supporters were asked for the volume afterwards.
The +1 project is a kind of outlook for the next decade
The photographer shared with our paper that the foundation was based on an international publication, the New Architecture series, and a book with a very similar structure for three cities. The series featured 50-50 buildings of contemporary architecture in London, New York and Los Angeles, the Los Angeles copy was photographed by Mike Kelley, mentor of George Palkó.
“So this is where the idea came from, I thought the architecture of Budapest for the last 20 years was so exciting to present in a publication.”
Said the photographer.
Although the question arises, he asked the basic idea why 50 + 1 projects were included in the Budapest volume. In response, György Palkó explained that during the preparations for the book, it took an ongoing process to select the 50 buildings in the book. “That particular +1 project was included in the volume so that when our final list was formed, a week later we noticed that there were indeed 51 buildings on the list instead of 50.”
He points out, it happened by accident, they didn’t want to pull any buildings out of it, but they found an argument as to why he could stay in it. “Finally, the BudaPart Kapu became the +1 project because we think of it as a kind of outlook for the next decade, the forerunner of which is this office building. We believe that this part of the city will be one of the defining elements of the next 10 years, together with the MOL Campus to be handed over and the development around Kopaszi Dam. ”
Houses are also included in the projects
The selection includes not only investments that shape the cityscape or judge buildings of high importance, but also some smaller projects, including special detached houses. As for the larger projects: the many exciting architectural masterpieces in Budapest include Clark Hotelthe MOMEthe Palace of Artsthe BudaPart Kapu office building, but also appears in the repertoire a Metro 4the Millennium Housethe Bath of Pesterzsébet or a Passive house with 100 apartments van.
The photography of the buildings required thorough preparations and sometimes several site visits. “Apart from the private houses – although I’ve been to one of them 3 times – there is also a project that I visited up to five times because I went back until I was completely satisfied with the pictures.” – György Palkó told our newspaper about the implementation process.
In this, too, he held great that, as the publisher of the book, there was no pressure on them as to when it should be completed. “I had to take photos several times, for example, to because in some places he also showed the changes of the seasons in the pictures, but there was also an example that I noticed an error while editing that I was able to fix next time. ” The thoroughness is also confirmed by the fact that the volume was planned to be published at Christmas, while György Palkó justified the later edition by saying that keeping the schedule would have required several victims who refused to make it.
This is how the moment lives on in a still image
We also learned from the photographer that the primary consideration in taking the pictures was not to emphasize uniqueness, but to try to show the truth about the best face of the buildings today.
“One of the best examples of this is the MagHáz, which is perhaps the oldest building in the book. The building is a good illustration of what our 20-year-old buildings look like now. That was one of my most important tasks: to show the current state in the pictures. ”
György Palkó explained.
Images would even fit the word “moving image,” as in many cases they not only capture a still, calm moment, but often feature people, a bustling downtown detail, or even animals, moving vehicles.
“I’m delighted that there has also been positive feedback from many places on the images that are full of life, as it fills with architectural photos, I really like having people in the pictures or any moving things that can give the pictures a little life or scale. With that, I also tried to smuggle myself into the whole thing a bit. Perhaps the most prominent example of the latter is that my little girl is on the cover, which is a truly personal thing ” György Palkó added.
THE The architecture of Budapest 2000-2020 book has been published in its own edition, is available at the Writers Store, or can be ordered On the website of György Palkóin Hungarian and English.