Motto:
"I cannot decide which is closer to me: designing a new building or restoring an old one. In a new building, the architect enjoys greater freedom, whereas in a renovation, one must first thoroughly understand the building’s past, the period it belongs to, and identify with the original designer’s mindset. The plans for a new building can be realized multiple times, but an old building is unique and irreplaceable." – Tihamér Szalay
Tihamér Szalay is one of the most versatile and colorful figures in Hungarian architecture. A distinguished creator of contemporary architecture, he is a recognized authority in building reconstruction and the protection of the built environment, while also actively shaping professional public life.
Motivation and Inspiration
To understand and appreciate his works, design and human character, and creative approach, it is essential to consider his family background and upbringing. He grew up in a genuinely bourgeois family that upheld a strong system of civic values, where his parents raised their children with loving discipline, emphasizing not only physical health and intellectual development but also emotional balance. His father, the senior Tihamér Szalay, as a distinguished hydraulic engineer specialising in the design of hydroelectric power plants, instilled in him a respect for engineering knowledge, while his mother, as head of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, instilled the values of humanistic education and a love of the arts.
These foundations were further strengthened by his studies at the Piarist High School, where the school’s ethos – discipline, love of knowledge, high intellectual standards, and respect for moral values – closely resonated with the expectations he had grown up with. During his studies, he displayed early talent in mathematics and drawing, and he discovered the joy of creation as a child. He learned particularly much during summers at Lake Balaton, building a sailboat with his father and brother. Given this background, it was natural that he continued his studies at the Faculty of Architecture of the Budapest University of Technology, graduating with distinction in 1978 (receiving the diploma award).
Significance of His First Realized Project
Few architects – perhaps none – can claim that their first project, largely completed while still at university and subsequently realized, demonstrates such professional and technical preparation, maturity, and a clear design approach that remains valid decades later, almost timeless. The design of his family house – created in 1978 (!) for himself and his family and realized in subsequent years – is known only to a few.
Nestled along the ridge of Remete Hill on Simon Street, hidden from curious eyes in a cut of the terrain, the brick-clad house aligns with the contour lines of the slope, visually and spatially continuing its environment. Its mass complements the ridge line. The structural system consists of a series of wooden trusses of varying heights, incrementally built on reinforced concrete columns hidden in the façade, defining the roof planes. Szalay personally participated in the construction (essentially building it himself) and even crafted the wooden trusses and the façade openings that matched their design using a woodworking machine he constructed himself.
Official Career Milestones
He began his career at the Housing and Communal Buildings Design Company (LAKÓTERV) in the studio of János Roth, where, as a designer, he contributed to projects including the prefabricated reinforced concrete panel holiday resort for the Road and Railway Construction Company in Balatonszéplak, the Volga Student Hostel in Prague, and later the Grand Hotel Hungária in Budapest.
In 1981, following the construction of so-called “small-panel” row houses on Beregszászi Street in Budapest (XI District) based on designs by young architects, his design for a row house with gable ends and habitable attic elements was successfully realized in the model housing area, leading to the construction of three additional 4-unit small condominiums on nearby Gulyás Street (though the small-panel factory housing program was later discontinued).
Meanwhile, he was admitted to, and in 1984 completed, the 7th cycle of the Master School of the Association of Hungarian Architects (MÉSZ).
From 1985, he served as head of the technical and design department of the Directorate Serving the Diplomatic Corps (DTEI), and from 1990 to 1995 he was lead designer at CD Design Architectural Office. Both positions offered opportunities for freer, independent design, which fully matured in 1995 with the founding of his own firm, MD Studio.
Creative Attitude
For architect Tihamér Szalay, no project is too small or too large, no building too simple or too complex in function. Whether the client is wealthy and influential or an ordinary individual, he approaches every design task as a new challenge, carrying it out with the same enthusiasm and dedication. Each design is preceded by thorough, all-encompassing preparatory work. In his practice, intellectual design, the creation of a deliberate compositional order, and theoretical grounding dominate over invention or spontaneity. He seeks interrelationships, which he then consistently applies across the entire building.
For the trained eye, this approach is clearly discernible, while the casual observer simply perceives these buildings as “pleasant” or “good,” as if they had always belonged there. They function perfectly, everything is in its place, and the spaces are easy to navigate. His buildings demonstrate a refined sense of form, proportion, and color, as well as advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of structural details. He follows his own path, avoiding contemporary, purely formal gestures for their own sake.
Two Major Periods of His Career (until the present)
Szalay Tihamér’s nearly half-century-long career can be divided into two clearly distinct periods.
The first phase is characterised by a vast diversity of building types: family houses and apartment buildings, ambassadorial residences, a meditation house, dormitories, office buildings, embassy offices, bank branches, shopping centers, drive-in and fast-food restaurants, DIY stores, and warehouse halls.
In the second period – his mature career – large-scale building reconstructions became dominant. During these decades, his creative focus shifted toward the preservation and rethinking of historical values.
Distinctive Buildings from the First Half of His Career
A significant portion of Tihamér Szalay’s oeuvre is comprised of family houses and apartment buildings that conceptually build on one another, forming a coherent series.
The Szentendrei Road family house (1978) can be considered the first element of this series. It is essentially a building derived from a large cube, arranged within a spatial grid. Its plan follows a diagonal layout, meaning that access to the living room and the upper floor occurs along the diagonal of the square plan. Service and other residential spaces flank the living room on two perpendicular sides. On the noisy side facing Szentendrei Road, the building is shielded by a thick, rustically laid natural limestone wall. Behind this wall rises a glazed, wooden-structured facade and roof, arranged in a grid system. The material choices were inspired, in part, by nearby Aquincum. Such a small, meticulously considered, and compact building is rare.
The Remete Hill family house on Tátra Street (1998) replaces the diagonal with a theoretical axis. Along this axis, the building opens out at an angle in response to the site's contour lines, creating a double-height living space. The increasingly widening rustic stone wall forms a robust base, with the upper wooden structure covered by a gently sloping large timber roof, resembling the outstretched wings of a bird.
The Szentendrei Road house served as a precedent for the Batthyány Street family residence in Siófok (1998), built to meet high representational standards. Inspired by classical English “Georgian” architecture, the building features brick cladding, a reinterpreted stone portico, front steps, cornices, window frames, and an exterior steel colonnade on the terrace side. This elegant house exemplifies the architect’s refined sense of style and skill in paraphrasing historic architectural forms – skills later applied in his reconstruction projects.
The Normafa Street diplomatic apartment buildings (1990), each containing four units, were executed with the same level of refinement as the residence in Siófok and are clad in polished and roughly textured stone. The diagonal, two-story apartments with galleries, terraces, and garden access were designed to give each occupant the sense of living in their own house.
A notable example of landscape integration is the single-story, solitary, stone-clad family house built on the summit of Székhegy (Szék Hill) above the Danube, at Vác (2003). The building's various functional zones are covered by separate timber roof structures with gently pitched traditional tiled roofs, which fan out towards the panoramic view. In front of the house, large cantilevered timber terraces follow the curve of the hillside, projecting above the slope. The surrounding natural grassland remains virtually untouched.
The ambassadorial residences were created through the reconstruction of former grand bourgeois and noble family homes and vacation houses, located either in the Buda Hills or on the Pest side in the palace district. (It should be noted that although these buildings are not unique, unlike most structures from the first half of the creative career – as indicated in the chapter title – they are important to mention precisely because, for Tihamér Szalay, they later served as good "training exercises" for the large-scale building reconstructions that would occupy the second half of his career.)
Actual design work was preceded not only by knowledge of diplomatic protocol but also by the research into the buildings’ histories, their original creators, and plans, as well as an understanding of the era in which they were constructed. Particularly challenging for the designer was the expansion of these buildings. From this perspective, the Moroccan Ambassadorial Residence on Mátyás Király Street (1987), situated on a sloping plot on the hill side, is noteworthy. Here, the protocol spaces were located at the basement level, “hidden” within a mound created in front of the building, designed so that the rooms opened both into an internal atrium and outward, towards the view within a terrain cut.
The series of unique drive-in restaurants also represents an important part of Szalay’s oeuvre. Surprisingly, though certainly not coincidentally, the international restaurant chain placed its trust in the designer and allowed him the opportunity – of course adhering to strict standards – to design unique buildings as well.
The first of these restaurants emerged from the need to expand a former single-story restaurant: the drive-in restaurant on Budaörsi Road (1999). In front of and above the low, single-story brick-clad mass housing the operational functions, a light, fully glazed, two-story steel-structured volume was placed, covered by a boldly cantilevered roof clad in sheet metal with a variable cross-section. This generously scaled roof, inspired by the wing profile of airplanes, first appeared on this building and, in modified form for other functions, continued to appear in later restaurants.
For example, at the drive-in restaurants in Debrecen and Ferihegy, Vecsés (2006), the lightweight, narrow, symmetrically shaped sheet-metal roof strip runs horizontally above the two-story flat-roofed building almost floating, emphasizing the building’s axis and the restaurant entrance.
The drive-in restaurant on Váci Road (2005) gains its distinctive character from the steel-framed, glazed upper volume, which essentially houses the dining area and extends at a sharply acute angle beyond the brick-clad single-story building, thereby marking the entrance.
The semicircular-plan, large-scale drive-in restaurant on Vörösvári Road (2006) features a long, curved, two-story glass strip running between two brick-clad, sign-bearing “towers” facing the street. Animated by the clearly visible diners seated inside, this transparent façade functions as an advertisement in its own right.
The Brusznyai Street drive-in restaurant in Veszprém (1999) deserves special mention. Located at the end of a traditionally built, two-story street, the building harmonizes with the neighboring structures by adopting their scale, while opening up toward the square. For automobile traffic, the designer created an arcade covered with climbing plants, above which a terrace and rooftop garden were placed. Many years later, the building stands and functions on the corner of Brusznyai Street as if it had always been there, yet without appearing outdated.
Among the unique office buildings built in the first half of the career, the Europa Center on Károly Boulevard (1992) is significant. The restraint with which the simple, red-brick façade synthesizes the neighboring iconic Wälder House and the 1980s residential building façade is impressive. Yet at the ground-floor arcade level, a different tone is struck: the high glass portals, the granite-clad façade with pilasters and stylized capitals, and the unique lighting fixtures recall early American office buildings. (Less known is the more freely formed “rear” façade along Asbóth Street.)
The Intersoft office building on Tusnádi Street (1995), barely visible from the public space, demonstrates that a modest, two-story, small-footprint office building can still attract attention and lend prestige to the owning company through massing and material use.
The BMF dormitory (2007) on Tavaszmező Street, despite its large scale and fully modern, minimalist façade treatment, integrates well with neighboring historicist buildings and adapts to the narrow, continuous street pattern of Józsefváros. The façade has a “layered” composition. The “base” corresponds to the function behind it, with a gray, panelled metal façade. In front of this, a perforated, robust red brick wall defines the street façade’s rhythm and alignment in harmony with neighboring buildings, while the ground-floor arcade widens the sidewalk. (Within the block, the white plastered dormitory wings rationally cover the party walls.)
At the end of the period, the “Foundation’s House for Mothers” in Miskolc, County Hospital (2004) was realized to provide recovering children a place to live with their mothers until full recovery. It is an especially fine example of generous massing and carefully crafted, delicate details. The House for Mothers consists of two simple, white-plastered volumes housing the room units and another volume with a large, high-ceilinged communal space, featuring a wooden structural frame with brick and wood cladding. By extending the brick walls, the entrance gains an interesting, dynamic emphasis, while the terrace becomes intimate.
Building Reconstructions and Heritage Preservation from the Second Half of His Career
Over the past twenty-plus years, Tihamér Szalay has increasingly specialized in building reconstructions, emerging as a recognized theoretical authority on heritage preservation. (It is therefore no coincidence that his inaugural lecture, “Com’era – Dov’era?!”, addressed this very topic.)
He employs a wide range of restoration methods, including conservation, restoration, reconstruction, supplementation, adaptive reuse, and replica construction, often combining approaches within a single project.
The Millenáris Office Building (2007), a protected historic monument, is located directly next to Millenáris Park and was created through the conversion of the historic main building of the Ganz Factory in Buda (originally serving industrial and office functions). The aim of the renovation was to fully meet modern office requirements while preserving the building’s heritage values, such as the classical façade and elements of industrial heritage within the interior (exposed brick walls, steel structural elements, etc.). The office spaces were expanded by creating a modern roof structure in the attic with large skylights. At the Millenáris Office Building, conservation, restoration, partial reconstruction, contemporary additions, and adaptive reuse were implemented together.
The same heritage renovation methods applied at the Millenáris Office Building were also used in the refurbishment of the A66 Office Building (2015), but here they were applied in an even more extreme, radical manner, with no compromise. The palace on Andrássy Avenue, dating from the late 19th century, underwent a faithful reconstruction of its eclectic historic façade and restoration of salvageable ceiling frescoes, while the interior design followed the principle of “minimal intervention.” In line with this approach, the original support beams, interior doors, and floor coverings were preserved, traces of previous wall and other paintings were made visible, surfaces were cleaned and treated without erasing them, missing elements were replaced in an attention-catching way, and mechanical systems and equipment were left exposed. The resulting minimalist, industrial style evokes – positively – the atmosphere of Budapest’s ruin pubs. This approach kept construction costs low while requiring even greater attention, care, and precision from the designers. The A66 Office Building received the “Special Award for Office of the Year” in 2016.
The reconstruction of the main building of the Ludovika Campus of the National University of Public Service (2014) involved extensive research into the nearly two-hundred-year history of the administrative center. The building became iconic as, following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise and apart from the destruction of the short 1919 Hungarian Soviet Republic, it served until 1944 as a hub for military officer training and, through that, as a bastion of Hungarian military virtues and national commitment. After almost seventy years of enforced hiatus, continuity was restored in the newly reconstructed building. During the preparatory research, the architect concluded that the reconstruction had to treat not only the original neoclassical barracks designed by Mihály Pollack in 1832 as “authentic,” but also the later 1872 Linzbauer István building, particularly regarding the eclectic, historicist facade. This later structure introduced the two-story ceremonial hall that projects onto the facade. The Pollack-designed generous staircase and chapel, the ceremonial hall, the Heroes’ Corridor commemorating fallen Ludovika students, and the inner courtyard decorated with all Hungarian county coats of arms were restored to their original form. A former carriageway on the ground floor was converted into a main foyer, and modern classrooms, a large lecture hall, a unified university library, and a multifunctional student hub were integrated. Szalay achieved his design goal: “Those entering Ludovika step into the atmosphere of the 19th century, but enjoy 21st-century comfort.” The new Ludovika Square in front of the main building now serves as its “foyer,” while the Orczy Garden/Park was revitalized and enriched with new functions.
Another highly significant project in Szalay’s oeuvre is the reconstruction of the Hungarian National Bank Supervisory Center and Money Museum (2022), realized within the emblematic Postapalota (1926) designed by Gyula Sándy. Located above Széll Kálmán Square like a “castle,” the building originally served both office and industrial functions. As with Ludovika, meticulous research and analysis preceded the design process. Szalay regards himself as the intellectual and creative successor to Gyula Sándy. The reconstruction balanced two objectives: (1) the faithful restoration of Sándy's original architectural vision: the late Eclectic façade with its distinctive Hungarian Secessionist character and subtle allusions to the architecture of early American skyscrapers – and reinforcing surviving elements, including the full reinforced concrete frame and seven-story floor divisions, while renovating the paternoster lift and stair railings; (2) radically reimagining the interior to meet modern banking and public-function requirements, including the main entrance from Krisztina Boulevard, the Money Museum spaces, the underground garage, and a striking atrium created by covering the former logistics courtyard. The atrium structure features only four steel pillars with branching “gold” cladding at its center, resembling a mythical grove, while the perimeter glass skylight reveals the full inner brick-clad facades facing the courtyard. The reconstruction also included the redesign of Csaba Street, creating a level pedestrian link between Széll Kálmán Square and Krisztina Boulevard, named Sándy Gyula Square in honor of the master architect. Visitors to the Money Museum enter directly from this square. A notable feature is the viewing terrace and café atop the iconic corner bastion, accessible via a spiral staircase and panoramic lift. The former industrial courtyard was transformed into an attractive green space.
In recent years, Szalay has also successfully converted four turn-of-the-century grand villas into office buildings. A particularly important example is the Kertész Imre Memorial House on Benczúr Street (2019). Designed by Guidó Hoepfner and Géza Györgyi, this four-story, asymmetrical, high-quadered building with Secessionist stone ornaments, steel-frame conservatory, terraces, and wrought-iron balconies, was meticulously restored to Szalay’s high standards. Interior elements – including carved wooden staircases, paneling, stuccoes, and fireplaces – were preserved. Furniture and decoration were partly inspired by contemporary drawings and photographs of the original designers’ villa on Gellért Hill. The building accommodates the writer’s archives in the basement, while upper floors support research, education, and exhibitions. Moving upward through the building, a geometric gold Art Deco motif becomes increasingly prominent, from wallpaper and glass panels at lower levels to full-scale wall elements in the top-floor lecture hall illuminated from above. Szalay, as always, personally contributed to the interior architectural concept.
In the Buda Castle, on Saint George Square, stood the palace of Archduke Joseph, which was completed in 1906 in a historicist style based on the designs of Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl, through the reconstruction of the Teleki Palace. During World War II, however, it was severely damaged, and in 1968 it was blown up and demolished.
Undoubtedly the greatest challenge of Tihamér Szalay’s design and creative career has been the preparation of the plans necessary for the reconstruction – or “replication” – of this destroyed, large-scale building (almost 21,500 m²), made possible by the National Hauszmann Program. Szalay undertook to play a decisive role in the “rebirth” of this emblematic structure. He emphasized that the building’s significance lies partly in the fact that, at the turn of the 20th century, with the completion of Archduke Joseph’s Palace and its surroundings, all construction in the Buda Castle’s centuries-old history was finished for the first time. The resulting architecture and urban ensemble was widely accepted, appreciated, and enjoyed by both professionals and the general public. The so-called “halcyon days” ca me to a dramatic end with World War II.
Following various renovations, in the next twenty years the building was alternately used in different ways or left abandoned. Its demolition was both a political decision and a manifestation of the general professional opposition to historicism. Nobody disputed that Saint George Square needed to be closed to the west with a built façade and that the ruined area could no longer remain. The reconstruction of the palace was driven by the goal of creating a unified spatial experience and, not least, meeting real social needs and expectations. Once completed, the building will house the Constitutional Court. The aim is to reinforce national identity and historical continuity.
The preparation of the plans was made particularly difficult by the fact that the original designs were destroyed; only a few rudimentary early sketches survived, along with photographs that could be found. The creation of the building’s plans demanded extraordinary expertise, skill, and significant effort from Tihamér Szalay as the lead architect, from all participating architects and specialist designers, and from the contractors involved in the implementation. (The work was coordinated with the support of a BIM information system.)
The building is being reconstructed with its original authentic appearance using modern technology, contemporary structures, and materials, which has revived many of the original, ingenious technical solutions. Construction began in mid-2021, and as of the second half of 2025, the façade elements are being installed and the roof finalized. Interior design work is also already underway. The reception of the completed building by the general public is expected to fully validate the hopes of the designers and builders.
Interior Architect and Construction Oriented Architect
Tihamér Szalay defines himself simultaneously as an architect and an interior architect. It is important to him that the overall design concept, organizational principle, and design of a building are reflected not only in its exterior but also in the shaping and gestures of its interior spaces. The interior designs of his buildings are usually developed in close collaboration with experienced interior architects.
He considers himself a “construction oriented” architect, meaning that there is no small detail of a building that he does not pay attention to or monitor as it takes shape. He personally develops and draws all key details. As he puts it, “Creating visually simple, generous junctions is the most complicated task.” He regards Gyula Sándy as a major predecessor and role model regarding a construction-oriented approach – the architect who established the Department of Building Structures at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and created visually impressive “building structure boards” that have survived to this day. Szalay considers it important to draw the architecture community’s attention to the significance of Sándy’s design legacy and the need for its proper scholarly treatment.
Professional and Public Activities
As Vice President of the Hungarian Chamber of Architects, Tihamér Szalay works to increase the effectiveness of professional self-governance and advocacy. As curator of the Mesterdíj (Master Prize) Foundation, he promotes recognition of outstanding design and construction work. In the Copyright Expert Committee, he represents the legal interests of design creators, while in the Standards Committee, he participates in shaping technical requirements. As a member of the National Design Council, he works to raise the quality and standard of architectural designs. As a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, he aims to enhance the social recognition of architecture as an art form. His suitability for public engagement is strengthened by his strong negotiation and compromise skills, while his perseverance and personal character lend credibility. In recognition of his work, he received the Ybl Miklós Award in 2014 and the Knight’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in 2019.
Summary
Tihamér Szalay’s oeuvre is a credible testament to the fact that building reconstruction is not merely a technical task, but also a responsible cultural mission. Through his works, he is able to create continuity, breathe new life into historical spaces, and at the same time produce lasting, high-quality architectural value. At the same time, this also means that there is less opportunity and time available for designing new, independent buildings – projects in which he has also demonstrated exceptional sensitivity and creative power –, a regrettable consequence.
[2025]