Hungarian Architecture

"There Is Nothing to See Here" is the title of the exhibition hosted in the Hungarian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. Since 2015, the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art has managed and organized both the temporary exhibition and the building. This year, it presents an alternative vision for the future of the profession. Curated by creative director and assistant professor Márton Pintér, in collaboration with Ingrid Manhertz, András Graf, and Júlia Böröndy, founder of the platform Women in Architecture (WIA), the exhibition will showcase the work of 12 architecture professionals who apply their expertise in fields beyond the profession.

The Hungarian Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka is designed to reflect the event's central theme, "Designing Future Society for Our Lives." It explores the relationship between humans and nature, emphasizing cultural heritage and sustainability through its architecture and exhibition. The pavilion will offer an immersive experience centered around music, heritage, and the connection between people and their environment.

Eastern and Southern Europe is enduring a severe heatwave, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees Celsius in many countries including Greece, Croatia, Macedonia, and Romania. Driven by hot air from North Africa, this prolonged heatwave has raised significant threats for residents and has strained the cities’ mechanisms for protection and climate mitigation. As the heatwaves expose the vulnerabilities of urban infrastructures, cities across Europe are striving to implement measures to address these challenges.

After a three-year break, Hello Wood’s builder festival returns to welcome students, architects, and young professionals from all across the world to join the 10-day builder camp to test their wooden construction abilities, learn to collaborate, and participate actively in on-site design and construction. For the first time in Hello Wood’s 13-year history, this year’s workshop takes place at a new location, in the crater of an abandoned basalt quarry on Haláp Mountain in Hungary. The workshop also aligns with and supports Veszprém’s title of 2023 European Capital of Culture, which also includes over a hundred other villages and towns across the Bakony-Balaton region. The event took place between July 6 and 15, ending in a two-day music festival open to all.

Though lesser known, the Hungarian city of Veszprém is one of the oldest and most important cities in the country. Designated as the European Union Capital of Culture for 2023, Veszprém boasts a longstanding history, visible through its evolving, yet well-preserved architectural monuments. In fact, one of the first notable observations as one walks through the city streets is its eclecticism and layers of historically diverse buildings, that sporadically arise. Despite the difference in styles and architectural languages, they collectively tell the story of the county and its spiritual and political relevance. Its pedestrian-friendly streets, many parks and public spaces, connect the Veszprém monuments, as one delves into a historic promenade.

For many, schools and kindergartens represent the first contact with public architecture. They, together with every educational facility, serve as the foundation for learning and knowledge dissemination, playing an important role in shaping the formative years of children and young adults. In consequence, these buildings need to respond to the needs of different age groups, while creating functional and flexible spaces for learning, but also for play and unstructured interaction. Light and ventilation needs contribute to the complexity of these architectural programs. However, designing educational facilities presents opportunities for innovation and creative expression, as they are required to adapt continuously to the changing needs of students and faculty while creating a conductive environment for learning.

At this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, the Hungarian Pavilion focuses on a new museum building in Budapest, the Museum of Ethnography. The Museum was designed by Marcel Ferencz (Napur Architect) and completed in 2022 as one of Europe’s most notable cultural and urban development programs, the Liget Budapest Project. The exhibition in Venice, titled "Reziduum – The Frequency of Architecture" and curated by Mária Kondor-Szilágyi, will present the museum's collection through the digital medium. A short animated film titled Ethnozoom and an interactive computer program, the MotifCreator, will allow visitors to become familiar with Hungarian traditions and create their own motif compositions, thus contributing to worldwide community creation. The Hungarian Pavilion will showcase works by architect Marcel Ferencz, architect and composer Péter Mátrai, architect Judit Z. Halmágyi and light designer Ferenc Haász.

A Hungarian proverb says "Aki tagadja a múltat, az nem talál jövőt", telling of the importance of using our past experiences to write our future, but balancing these two endless worlds – the traditions and culture of one, with the technology and innovation of the other – is often key to creating timeless design.

This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights educational and cultural projects submitted by the ArchDaily community. Through examples from all around the world, the article explores how these spaces of knowledge and discovery are designed to inspire and inform.

Along with several other imperative factors, the success of an architectural project relies heavily on how it is communicated to its users and builders. Most architects opt for realistic computer generated renders to showcase their projects, while others choose to explore different techniques, translating their architectural narratives through photo collages, sketches, animation, hyper-realistic miniature models, walkthroughs, diagrams, and occasionally, script.