The Best Buildings of Hungary Award in 2020 – PHOTO GALLERY, VIDEOS
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2020 was an unconventional year, to say the least. A lot of tragedies were crammed into this single year, and it was mostly about staying home to avoid the coronavirus pandemic and finding solutions to move your office to your living room. But art seems to have been impervious to this year’s hardships and was productive in these last twelve months since a whole host of works of art, books, and buildings have been created. Of these, you will now see the best residential and public buildings finished this year. In architecture, simple shapes and colours were dominant in 2020.
24’s original article can be found by clicking on the link. This year has been quite productive architectural designs-wise as the plans for a modern luxurious dormitory have just recently been released.
SA43 condominium, Budapest (designed by Noémi Varga and Balázs Szelecsényi)
The Buda Hills, i.e. the hilly areas of District 12 in Budapest, do not lack wonderful historical buildings, but next to the 19th- and 20th-century buildings, some modern ones can also find their perfect place. The panoramic SA43 in Buda is an excellent example of this. The thoughtful design culminates in an unusually grey, glazed ceramic façade which is intensified by the shutters. The building, designed by Noémi Varga (Numbernow) and Balázs Szelecsényi, hides five flats that can be connected on each floor and are supported by a reinforced concrete staircase. The condominium got a simple white interior.
Church of Pope Saint John Paul II, Páty (designed by Robert Gutowski)
Designing a church is not an easy task. The typical forms created in recent centuries are deeply rooted in the minds of most people, and they are not easy to overwrite. But after WWII, as modernism started spreading, it became clear that there is no such thing that is impossible, so today, in Hungary, there are numerous modern church buildings inspired by the principles of Bauhaus and European architecture after WWII.
Robert Gutowski’s church in Páty is one such example. It was designed between 2004 and 2007 but was only completed this year. It bears the name of Pope John Paul II. The building, which evokes the fortified churches and the arches of Gutowski’s master, Dezső Ekler, is both modern and respectful of tradition, and this might be the source of its attractiveness.
