Miklós Kampis was one of the defining figures of Hungarian architecture in the second half of the 20th century and the early decades of the 21st. A man of exceptional erudition and a constantly renewing theoretical mind, he combined deep scholarship with a practical understanding of architectural culture. Shortly after graduating from university, he settled in Kaposvár, where he established his own studio within the state company SOMOGYTERV. True teamwork characterized this studio: the young architects working there were guided by Kampis, under whose leadership all the vernacular monuments of Somogy County were surveyed in the early 1970s.
He regularly entered major national design competitions, often winning not only first but also second prizes (for example, for Hollókő’s old village infill developments and weekend houses around Lake Velence). The company’s director, György Szigetvári, was a genuine patron of architectural heritage, which enabled the studio to receive numerous commissions from the National Inspectorate of Monuments – opportunities that few young architects were granted at the time. Kampis’s studio carried out the national survey of synagogues and wooden bell towers in Hungary, with the work at the Szenna Village Museum standing out as particularly significant.
As Miklós Kampis put it: “The settlement, the man-made environment, was created by people – our fellow human beings – as part of a general cultural and civilizational system that we call society. In describing architecture, we cannot ignore society as an environmental factor, since it fundamentally influences the appearance, development, or decline of architecture through its intentions to build, its needs, and the extent of effort and resources it invests.”
The citation for his 2001 Kossuth Prize reads: “For the consistent, value-preserving architectural designs created for the reimagining of Kaposvár’s city centre, reconciling aesthetics with rationality.” In the reconstruction of Kaposvár’s city centre and the design of the Southern Cemetery, each architect had a specific task that together formed a coherent whole. This process fostered a spirit of collaboration and collective creativity. The cemetery project was both an architectural and structural challenge. Its conceptual foundation lay in the belief that ancient cultures held a unified view of life and death, of the physical and spiritual worlds – realms that modern consciousness tends to separate. Birth and death are inseparable, transitional moments in the cycle of existence: gates through which one passes from one world to another. Kampis’s study KAPU (Gate), prepared during this project, later became a key part of the curriculum of the Vándoriskola (Itinerant School) for over 25 years, and remains, in the author’s view, an essential element of architectural education. For these projects, Kampis often invited external experts to participate, transforming the studio’s work into an open, self-educating circle where well-known architects held lectures and discussions. His plan for the reconstruction of Kaposvár’s city centre was one of the first in Hungary to address the revitalization of provincial towns. The resulting pedestrian street, building renovations, and new infill constructions continue to serve as a model for similar urban development projects today.
The work continued into 2000 with the first phase of the redevelopment of the southern block of Ady Endre Street. The project offered not only a general urban design concept but also detailed designs for each individual building – meaning that behind the concept design lay substantial content. In the early 1980s, Kampis became chief architect of the company. During this period, he built close professional ties with architects in Pécs, with whom he organized several joint exhibitions and lectures. Around this time, he founded the Dél-Dunántúli Építész Stúdió (South Transdanubian Architectural Studio). The most significant turning point came in 1987, when Kampis’s studio separated from SOMOGYTERV and formed an independent design cooperative under the name KAPOSTERV, with seven leading architects.
In the years that followed, at his initiative, the Károly Kós Association was founded in 1988. Today, in terms of both the number and the significance of its works, it is one of the largest groups of Hungarian architects sharing a common set of principles, with more than forty member organizations. The Association publishes its own quarterly journal under the title Országépítő (“Nation Builder”).
As Miklós Kampis himself explained, the founding of the Károly Kós Association was rooted in the principles of organic architecture, which he came to through more than a decade of studying Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy and lectures. The Association also established the Vándoriskola (“Itinerant School”). Kampis described its birth through a vivid metaphor: just as a tree blossoms and produces leaves, flowers, and new shoots, so too did the Association come into being. It was inspired by the medieval custom of young craftsmen setting out on journeys as apprentices of their guilds to gain experience and knowledge abroad before becoming masters themselves.
In this same spirit, the Károly Kós Association launched its young itinerant architects to spend six semesters studying within the Association’s various member organizations across Hungary. There, they would learn not only the architectural profession, but also independent thought, the true intellectual currents of the world, and, alongside their professional development, the living reality of architectural entrepreneurship. After completing the Itinerant School’s program, participants were required to design and defend a diploma project before a panel of Masters, after which they received a Master’s Certificate as proof of their accomplishment.
When preparations began for establishing the Somogy County Chamber of Architects, none of the architects of the region considered anyone else for the position of president but Miklós Kampis. He also played an important role on the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the Hungarian Chamber of Architects. It is noteworthy that, alongside his work as a practicing architect, school founder, and community builder, he still devoted considerable time and energy to these institutional responsibilities.
Despite his many engagements, Kampis never abandoned design. His development plan for a residential plot in Kaposvár, Rómahegy (Lot no. 6484), completed in 2002, is a clear example. The various regulations – covering not only architectural form but also land use and internal layout – were formulated primarily for the benefit of future owners, proposing contextually relevant solutions based on orientation and plot structure. Adherence to these principles also allows for each building, depending on its architectural quality, to achieve a completely distinct and individual character.
Even at eighty, Miklós Kampis remains active. His designs and realized residential houses for the Ócsa social housing estate testify to his enduring creative energy. His carefully conceived and refined design for the Arnót kindergarten, though unfortunately never built, reflects the same depth of thought. Miklós Kampis’s life’s work is not yet complete—it still holds surprises. And indeed, the words once written about him ring true: “The anointed master teacher of architecture.” He has truly earned that title.
[Written in 2015]