István Medgyaszay's unique style in concrete, with a special focus on the Veszprém Theater
Ferenc PotznerAbstract
István Medgyaszay (1877–1959) was a truly unique character of Hungarian architecture. Seemingly disparate influences shaped his craft: his education in Vienna, European functionalism, his ethnographic research, eastern influences, and the determination to use reinforced concrete in his buildings. Medgyaszay combined these into a style on its own, in which decoration became a part of the structures he designed, and he went on to apply this principle to the shaping of reinforced concrete structures. Completed in 1908, Veszprém Theater is Medgyaszay's first public building to feature the early use of reinforced concrete. Medgyaszay presented his architectural approach via an analysis and evaluation of the dynamics of the structures of previous historical periods. He referred to Greek and Gothic architecture as styles in which the form of the structures adequately and harmonically expresses the inner forces. Architectural form is, in his view, an attempt to make the inherent essence visible.