Evaluation

Text: Members of the Jury

Utóirat (Post Scriptum), which is the thoretical supplement to the periodical titled Magyar Építőművészet (Hungarian Architecture) was launched in 2001 and has been a popular forum for articles on contemporary architecture ever since. On publishing its 100th issue, the editorial board published a contest which was targeted not only to activate its former and potential authors, but implicitly also to have an overall impression of topics and issues architects are interested in nowadays. Studies submitted by applicants prove that interests cover wider fields that cannot fit into the two categories previously defined for the contest. Of the 18 entries submitted there are only two that focussed on new works built in Hungary in the past two years. It was also surprising to see that several entries specialized in the history and missed chances of outstanding regions. A different category is formed by articles tackling the oeuvres of significant Hungarian architects, and several have evoked well-known, exemplary works of international architecture from the recent past as well. A significant percentage of the 18 entries articles are different from the rest because of their style, going beyond the standard genres and have proven to be polemic, more like pamphlets that reveal the contradictions of contemporary architectural culture. To sum it up, we can conclude that the contest was a successful one, and testifies that Hungarian architectural thinking today covers an extraordinarily wide spectrum, and faithfully translates the contradictory richness of our contemporary environments and cultures.