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Csepely-Knorr, L., 2019.

TERVEZÉSELMÉLETI IRÁNYVONALAK A KÉT VILÁGHÁBORÚ KÖZÖTTI MAGYAR KÖZPARKÉPÍTÉSZETBEN

Output Type:Chapter in a book
Publication:Urbs. magyar várostörténeti évkönyv XIII
Publisher:Budapest Fováros Levéltára

The public parks (Volkspark), which appeared in the practice and theory of German designers in the 1930s, can be considered as landmarks of landscape architecture modernism. The designers of the public parks primarily determined the value of the parks based on their functions; that's why these units are called "machines for recreation" by some researchers of the topic, in parallel with the "machine for living" architectural theory, which refers to the works of Le Corbusier. However, in the interwar period, simultaneously with the German design theory, several other trends were present, which were more traditional both theoretically and stylistically. The manifold landscape architectural language of certain European regions, including the Hungarian one as well, significantly enriched the public park architecture of the period. During the reconstruction following the First World War, the Gardening Centre of the Capital City re-designed almost all green areas of Budapest under the leadership of Károly Räde. Despite the outstanding significance of his activity, he was strongly criticised by his contemporaries because of his traditional conception. These critiques envisioned a new, modern(ist) public park architecture, which similarly to the German results, gives precedence to the social aspects. Räde's critiques, in particular Béla Rerrich and the young landscape architects of the Gardening School, Kálmán Jonke and Imre Ormos, laid the foundations for the Hungarian landscape architectural modernism in their public park theoretical writings.