Budapest: The Latest Architecture and News

Initiated by KÉK – Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre in 2007, the 5th Annual Budapest Architecture Film Days will be taking place February 28-March 3. The main intent of the event is to use the medium of film to highlight the most subtle processes in architecture, design and urban development. This year, the 4-day festival proposes the richest and most diverse program of its half-decade existence to those interested in architecture, design and cities. The event opens with a portrait of one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, Oscar Niemeyer. For more information, including a complete program of events, please visit here.

Architects: T2.a Architects Location: Budapest, Hungary Architect In Charge: Gábor Turányi, Bence Turányi Project Team: Zsolt Frikker, András Göde, Orsolya Gönczi, László Földes, Barna Láris, Péter Márk, Eszter Mészáros, Levente Skultéti, Zoltán Stein, Miklós Vannay Photographs: Zsolt Batár

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HelloWood - a creative, professional and social program with a message that mobilizes more and more young people – was organized for the 3rd year by MOMEline – designworks, together with its new partner Reflekt social architecture studio. The week-long creative camp included 200 Hungarian and international students who worked together to realize social and cultural spaces for eight north-eastern Hungarian communities. The social mission of the project was showcased at Sziget, Europe’s Best Major Festival. Cameron Sinclair, the co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, commended HelloWood’s inspirational initiative for aspiring to social change with thoughtful design for marginalized communities.

Join us after the break for details on some of the projects.

In this TEDx sponsored talk, Rachel Armstrong - co-director of AVATAR (Advanced Virtual and Technological Architectural Research) in Architecture and Synthetic Biology at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL) – speaks about the dangerous relationship that we have developed with machines since the industrial revolution and ways we can break that habit. Along with her research on “living materials” and “synthetic biology”, Armstrong is looking for ways to rebuild the relationship between our reliance on machines and the systems of nature and our ecologies that are often neglected.

More on this talk after the break.

Along with Moszkva square, Móricz Zsigmond circus is a very busy public transportation junction, located in south Buda. With a round art relic in its middle – the Gomba (meaning mushroom because of its form) is a popular public space for people to meet, with several trams and buses intersecting, along with the Budapest Metro – subway line 4, presently under construction. The concept by Hetedik Műterem Ltd. was to treat the art relic of József Schall (from 1942) with proper respect but determined courage. At the same time, they redefined the currently closed space structure, to put forward and intensify the presence of the urban public space. More images and architects’ description after the break.