György Vadász has left a huge oeuvre

His long life was defined by teaching

Mihály Vadász was one of the most important architects of the 1930s, who, as a pupil of Dezső Hültl and Emil Bauer, created examples of modernism with his colleague Gábor Preisich. No wonder that his son György Vadász also chose the architect's career. In 1957 he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Budapest, from where he joined Budapesti Városépítési Tervező Vállalat and later IPARTERV. Between 1958 and 1961, he graduated from the Master School of the Magyar Építő Artists' Association, where he was taught by Jenő Szendrői, János Böhönyei, Károly Weichinger and Károly Dávid.

During his long professional career, he has been the head of the Budapesti Városépítési Tervező Vállalat department, a teacher at the master school of the Magyar Építő Artists' Association, a board member of the Budapest Urban Planning Association, and the chief architect of Baja and Pásztó. In 1984 György Vadász designed the installation for the sculptures of Imre Varga at the XLI Venice Biennale. In 1985 he was awarded the title of professor.

In December 1990, he founded Vadász Építész Stúdiót, which quickly became one of the most important architectural practices of the post-war period. His son, the renowned architect Bence Vadász, took over the management of the firm; his grandson, Balázs Vadász, continues the tradition and works as a designer at the family firm.

Beyond styles

In the first decade of his extremely varied career, he was the first to abandon the rigid structures of "international modernism" and to dissolve and enrich his buildings with painterly elements by lively, rhythmic articulation of the masses. He was particularly interested in how architecture and nature could be brought together. The relationship between nature and interior design was not only emphasised in his own family house with its completely open system, but also in his 'New Bauhaus' houses, which are very different in form from his earlier buildings and also show the influence of Japanese architecture.

His artistic inclination is reflected in his freehand drawings, his sketches are sketches of high quality, and his water reservoir at Gellérthegy can be seen as a sculptural work, as was his Hungarian pavilion at the Hanover Expo at the turn of the millennium, which received a great international response.

A list of its most important buildings and works of art can be viewed here.

You can learn more about the history of the dynasty in Tibor Gottdank's very thorough article, published in Építészfórumon.