Case Study of an Iconic Modern Building

Text: Norbert Jankovics, Zsuzsanna Máté

By the early-21st century, the technologies applied on buildings older than a few decades, but younger than a century, and typically labelled as „modernist”, had become outdated, whilst their aesthetic values also faded rapidly and significantly. Whenever their comprehensive reconstruction was started, they were typically demolished and left with their structures, and thus only their „skeletons” had been „re-clad” and facelifted. Their reconstruction or restoration to their original designs (occasionally with more modern materials) has been the rare exception to this rule. Located next to the pier, along the foot path of guests arriving by ship to the harbour of Badacsony, the former Tátika restaurant is a modernist building widely known amongst professionals of architecture, with a documented history of its design, construction and reception, but not published enough. As a brief case study, the article below surveys the history of the construction, remodelling and destruction of Tátika.