|
||||
|
|
|||
under construction |
||||
// BOOK PUBLICATION Domonkos Wettstein: BALATON ARCHITECTURE - Searching
for strategy in the twentieth century Wettstein Domonkos: Balatoni építészet – Stratégiakeresés a huszadik
században (with English summary) BME Department of Urban Planning
and Design / Tarsoly Kiadó, Budapest, 2022 ISBN 978-615-5858-28-4 The book can
be ordered in the
BOOKLINE online store at this link > Book design and graphics: Nóra Mészáros http://www.balatoniepiteszet.hu https://www.facebook.com/balatoniepiteszet https://www.instagram.com/balatoniepiteszet/ "How should we build on
the shores of Lake
Balaton?" - the question
appeared more and more frequently
in the publications between the two
world wars, and then the establishment of the Balaton Management Committee
(BIB) in 1929 gave the first opportunity for unified management and development. From that time on,
architecture developed decisive positions in the regional development institutions, which greatly contributed to the uniform management of landscape,
settlement and architectural
scale issues. The focus of the planning history is the first Balaton Regional Plan, which defined the architecture of the sixties, and
in 1965 won the
Sir Patrick Abercrombie Award
of the International Union of Architects
(UIA). However, in order to understand the antecedents of the first regional
plan and the subsequent changes and distortions, it is necessary to analyze the historical
process of planning in a broader time frame. The book is about the history of the architecture of the Balaton shore in the twentieth century. It primarily
examines the regional-level concepts with which contemporaneous
specialists, including
Iván Kotsis, Tibor Farkas or
Károly Polónyi, sought solutions to the problems of lakeside architecture. In addition to the
analysis of model and type plans, the
characteristic functions
of recreational architecture
illustrate the period's developments. The experimental mentality of the designers is reflected in the easy design of seasonal waterside beaches, campsites, restaurants, and holiday and accommodation
buildings. Their inventive
structural design has become
a trademark of modern architecture on the Lake Balaton. Although fewer and fewer memories of the heritage of the twentieth century remain, these seasonal waterfront buildings still live on
in the public's mind as a defining image. //
RESEARCH PROJECT / Scales: Landscape
Urbanism and Architectural
Strategies in the Balaton
Region
Introducing the research
area
The surrounding of Lake Balaton is a culture region that was characterised
by the sensitive symbiosis of the nature and the built environment
during centuries. Through the building operations with recreation purposes, contiguous settlement-courses have developed within a short time, meanwhile, the expansion of the townish fields
threatens with the exhausting of the natural, regional values that enable the
relaxation. The ecological
unit of the Balaton region
needs a complex architectural solution that covers the
entire region that is the reason
why the target of my research is the analysis of the architectural connections of the urbanisation of the shore of Lake Balaton in respect of the transformation of the vernacular-natural area, the social modernisation
and the change of the way of life. History and context of the research
The concept of the
settlement landscape is
in the forefront of the modern architectural and urban way of thinking. The transforming, continuously changing sight, the even
stronger landscape forming of people need the new
approaches of the problem. The areas that were handled
by the special literature as natural or
vernacular areas have gone through
even more spectacular transformations with the spreading of the human activities and this change also
became irreversible for today. The concept of „urbanspace” that appears in the international special literature turns attention to the new
quality dimensions of the region concept
that try to follow the
changes of the territories, borders and regional identities becoming flexible. The international research groups have already
dealt with the examination of the different European lake areas but
Lake Balaton has not fallen within
their scope of interest, however, it is an important region in international aspect as well, as
far as its size and problems are concerned. No detailed architecture-historical
urban analysis or summarizing work about the
architecture of the region of Lake Balaton of the period and development of the region have
been prepared yet. The Balaton monographs that were issued
previously are dealing with the built environment
in separate chapters but they do
not analyse the processes of change in details. The records that analyses the national architecture of the period mention the planning duties of Lake Balaton from the viewpoint of the big designer
companies and the
outstanding designer personalities,
however, they do not deal
with the regional correlations of the developments. The research goal, open questions
During my examination,
I have the goal to reveal
and analyse the processes of urbanisation in details that caused the change
of the built environment of the region to great
extent during the period of the recreation building operation boom. The period that influences the condition of the lake-shore to great extent
has not been processed yet, however, it is needed to draw
lessons when determining the future of the region; that is the reason why
I am looking for the answer for
the following questions during my examination: What kind of changes happened in the examined period as far as the
use, the structure of the region and the scale of the architectural elements are concerned? What kind of answer did the profession
of region engineering and
architecture try to give for
the challenges of the age? How
did they try to handle
the increase of the density, what kind of strategies, regulations and plans were made?
The systematisation of these
means and the critical assessment of their successfulness is needed. How did the social,
economical and administrative
background that was typical of the period influence
the transformation of the region? What
kind of relations can be pointed out between the social modernisation,
the change of the way of living
and the transformation of
the built environment? It is necessary to place the period
into international
context and to make out what kind of divergent and parallel tendencies
can be noted in the development of other European lakes with regional importance. Methodology
During the examination,
on the basis of the contemporary documents to be found I reconstruct the urban processes that take place
in the region. I systematize the professional strategies, regulations and plans that influence the transformation. It is worth examining
the processes in the region in relation to the
results of the historical, sociological and regional geography researches in several dimensions and it is necessary to reveal the relations between the specific
levels. To collect and systematize the data I use
the following methods: Bibliographical researches When processing the theme, I mostly lean on the
contemporary architectural
trade papers and trade books
topic that represent the interest of the profession of architecture. Besides studying the trade papers, it also
comes to the processing of the contemporary professional literature and other source materials (regulations, rules, orders, reports about researches and developments). It is necessary to overview the
autobiographical memories
of the architects and
city designers and to use the interviews
made with the previous partakers and with the persons who
are still alive with whom
an interview was made during the
research work. The publications that were written by the city architects
and architect-historians touched
upon the area only in parts, the coherent
scientific processing also needs the
crosschecking of these statements too. In the past ten
years, the processing of the national culture of the 60s and 70s years got on very much,
the research also needs the
knowledge of them and the special literature
too that processes the period. Processing of records and the
materials of the design-archives The transformation of the
settlements and the landscape can be read off from
the contemporary maps very well
that is the reason why the
transformation process of
the lake-shore can be reconstructed with using the
sources of the archives, first of all the maps
of the settlements and the region. Because of the professional ideas and the interpretation of the strategies, it is needed to process
the archive materials of the former designer companies. In case of the regional and settlement-structural plans, the most of them have already been destroyed, however, I could find some contemporary
documents about the most important investments in the archives. To analyse further documents in details that I can find
I will look up in the archives
of the authorities responsible and ask them out for the use of scientific
researches. Analysis of contemporary statistics To explain the transformation
of the use of the region and the settlement structures, the contemporary statistical data can provide
some assistance. The sociological surveys and those of economical type that were
recorded by the KSH (Hungarian Central Statistical Office) and
its scientific partner organisations will be processed. Besides, I will also analyse
the results of the contemporary researches that establish the development plans to be found in the VÁTI Information Centre. Preparation of local examinations and surveys During the examination,
it is necessary to choose the
sample fields that show the characters of the period even today,
to make a condition survey during field trips and to publish them in the form of case
studies. (detailed photo documentation, air photographs, surveys, settlement structure drafts) The processing of the
data in tables that turned up
during the bibliographical, statistical researches and the ordering of the settlement structural drafts in a typological and chronological system next to each
other enables to give answers
for the questions of the research and to check up quickly.
On the basis of the typological examinations, I made groupings with which the
chronological order and settlement development could be harmonized. Results
During the historical
reconstruction, I examined
the transformation of the built environment
on different scale levels, on regional, settlement and building scales. 1. Periodisation Through ordering the source materials to be found, the periodisation of the shore of Lake Balaton of the architecture with recreation purposes was prepared on the
basis of the methodologies of the regional concepts. The processes of urbanisation running in the Balaton region can be divided in well-definable periods. The periodisation that is characteristic of the transformation of the built environment
is in close connection with the economical
and social changes that happen in the background. 2. Settlement structure
typology One can make out morphological relationship between the change
of the composition of the residents and the holidaymakers and the temporal transformation of the spatial structures that I summarized in a table that shows the typological development. By the specific typologies one can fairly determine
a functional reorganisation
process within the given settlement
structure that follows the change
of the population and the area. 3. Architectural designing methodology The improvement of the
quality of the private building operations means a challenge for the architect
trade even today, in
building operations history
of the shore of Lake people tried to solve this
problem with making the law
and order for building operations (public administration) more effective,
binding the designing and
the implementation to qualification and with standard designs. During the
research, the assessment of the designing methodologies of the specific periods was prepared on the basis
of the regional identity, the landscape and settlement view, the functional
and constructional establishment and the architectural character. I summarized the holiday house architecture of the specific periods in a typological table. The result of the examination may assist to preserve
the architectural heritage of the region and to set up the
frames of the new building operations. 4. International context The urbanization that
happens on the shore of Lake Balaton shows
similarity with the urbanization processes of the European lakes district passing at the
same time only on the
field of the proportion of the inhabited areas, at the same
time, the use of the landscape,
the type of the functional and settlement structures are basically different. With the comparative examination of seven lake districts with European importance (the Lake Geneva [Switzerland], Lake Constance [Switzerland], Lake Garda [Italy],
Lake Como [Italy], Lake Müritz [Germany], Lake Lucerne [Switzerland], Lake Zurich [Switzerland]), one could proved
that the territory proportion of the built-up density and the quota of the population of the lake-shore and the time of the change
equal to the processes revealed at the
shore of Lake Balaton but
the structure of the changes are
significantly different. Expected impact and further research
On the basis of the historical reconstruction, the further purpose of the research is to define the
urbanization processes, the landscape qualities, to characterize the environmental status of the
Balaton region. I continuously
publish the present results of the research in national and international scholarly journals, beside this, I have the goal
to share knowledge with the wider architect
trade and the public too; that is the reason why
I publish the results of the research on the
website that presents the architecture of the region Lake Balaton and I would like to publish in a professional book about the
architecture of the lake-shore supporting the protection of the built heritage
and the development of the region, the
improvement of the quality of the architecture. Publications: official list of publications > |
publicatoins in English official list of publications
gta ethz bute urban planning
and design research grant |
|||
|
||||
© Wettstein Domonkos 2013 |
||||