“Perhaps my style is somewhat adaptive, but architecture is always about adaption as well – perhaps it is precisely those who adapt that create the harmony of the greater whole.”
These lines, suitable as an ars poetica, appear in the volume of the portrait series Vallomások that presents the work of contemporary Hungarian architects and focuses on Ferenc Török. The quotation clearly proclaims the architect’s worldview, which reaches far beyond the narrow scope of architectural commissions and speaks instead about the role to be fulfilled in the universe. It is demonstrable that throughout his entire career Ferenc Török has continuously explored and sought the ways and methods of applying adaptive solutions. Coupled with his humane perspective, his creative artistic talent has made him one of the significant architects and public figures of our time.
His architectural activity, beginning in the second half of the 20th century, differs from that of his contemporaries in two respects: on the one hand, he has always continued designing while also teaching generations of architects, and on the other, sacred architecture already became a defining element of his work at a time when few undertook such commissions.
Ferenc Török completed his university studies by receiving the Diploma Prize, and his career has since been marked by a series of prestigious awards. “For his architectural oeuvre of outstanding value – especially his work in church architecture – and for his school-forming activity as a teacher and creator” – states the justification for the Kossuth Prize.
Alongside the Kossuth Prize, which he received in 1995, the Ybl Prize (1982) is the most prestigious, but the commemorative medals he earned for his work as a teacher – the Csonka Pál, Kotsis Iván, and József Nádor medals – are also of great personal importance to him.
Among his role models we may mention István Medgyasszay, whose church in Rárosmulyad is an early example of concrete architecture. During his university years, he became acquainted with the buildings of Károly Weichinger – for example the Pauline church in Pécs and the Szilágyi Erzsébet Secondary School in Budapest – works that likewise had a major impact on him. During his study trips he also encountered the architecture of Carlo Scarpa, as well as the buildings of his students Luigi Snozzi and Aurelio Galfetti, representatives of contemporary international architecture.
"They are representatives of the movement of critical regionalism, which is very close to me as well." - said Ferenc Török.
He stands out from his peers in 20th century Hungarian architecture primarily for his church-building work, although his name is also known as the designer of a significant number of other buildings – residential houses, colleges, swimming pools, cultural centres, art centres and exhibition buildings.
Sacred Buildings
His earliest churches – in Nagydobsza, Nemeshetés, and Balatonfenyves – are works of brick and concrete architecture. A turning point is the Greek Catholic church in Edelény, a major work of Hungarian regional architecture. In this project, stone received a prominent role, and its various modes of finishing and application enriched the architecture.
Roman Catholic Church, Balatonfenyves (1974–1977)
The sacred hall space was formed with consideration for the existing foundation pillars. The primary structural elements are the enclosing brick walls and the welded steel frame structures. The glass roofing applied to the upper section of the roof and to the entrance façade creates interior light and colour effects that vary with the sunlight. The sacristy is located beneath the church gallery. This layout ensures the impressive unity of the hall space. The crucifix above the choir is the work of sculptor Miklós Tarr, and the statue of Saint Elizabeth rising before the main façade was created by sculptor Aran Tyll.
Roman Catholic Church, Révfülöp (1977–81)
Following the demolition of a chapel converted from a holiday house – while retaining the wine cellar set among the vines along the path leading to the church – the new church was built on the same footprint. The building, constructed using red local carved rubble stone, features a narrowing, multi-functional pillar made of the same material rising along its axis. This pillar acts both as a supporting element for the gabled roof and, at its top, as the stone structure from which the cross is formed. The bell hangs in the opening fashioned behind the cross. The façades between the pillar and the rectangular plan trimmed at one corner are filled with timber-framed glass surfaces, which can be opened to connect interior and exterior space when desired. At the foot of the tower stands the statue of Saint Joseph the Worker, the work of sculptor Miklós Tarr.
Roman Catholic Church, Ábrahámhegy (1985–1988)
Situated on one of the village’s traditional, comb-patterned plots – a “house among houses” – this basilican church with a timber truss structure fits naturally into its surroundings. Along its side, a semicircular stepped “arena” accommodates the increased number of worshippers during the summer season. The “arena” is enclosed by wooden columns bearing the Stations of the Cross, created by sculptor Róbert Csíkszentmihályi. The church interior is adorned with numerous works of art by Erzsébet Udvardi, Pál Deim, Tihamér Gyarmathy, Győző Somogyi, and folk woodcarver Béla Horváth.
Church of the Holy Cross (Greek Catholic) and Parish Building, Edelény (1977–1983)
Located in a park opposite the town’s castle, at the very heart of the settlement, the church and parish are arranged around a site dominated by a tower resembling a bell-wall. The ensemble is built of the characteristic hard limestone of Rakaca, using the same material in variously processed forms: the walls are of rubble stone, the exterior cladding is split stone, while the interior flooring is a polished, marble-like finish. Next to the pronounced bell-wall lies the entrance, leading into a low-ceilinged foyer. From here one enters the centrally planned church space, designed to suit the Byzantine liturgy, in which daylight streams through a hexagonal opening placed along the vertical axis above the congregation. The sanctuary is separated by a pierced wooden iconostasis bearing the icons of the Mother of God and Christ teaching. The upper third of each wall face within the hexagonal layout is adorned with Antal Nemcsics’s Byzantine-inspired panel paintings.
Apostolic Nunciature, Budapest (1991), co-designer: Mihály Balázs
A Neo-Baroque villa in Buda had to be remodelled to accommodate the dual function of the Vatican Embassy – chancery and residence. The stone-built service wing, articulated with pillars and opening toward the garden with a loggia, evokes a “Tuscan” atmosphere and forms an autonomous yet harmonious complement to the main building. The natural requirement that the diplomatic mission include a private chapel was resolved by converting the former garage. Employing contemporary techniques and artworks, the designers created a simple, functional interior whose apse, illuminated from above, forms a particularly intimate and contemplative focal point.
Greek Catholic Church, Nyíregyháza (1993)
In the mission district of this northeastern Hungarian regional centre, a Greek Catholic church complex was erected amid prefabricated housing blocks, composed of clearly defined, firmly modelled masses. Its strictly ordered ground plan follows a lucid and hierarchical spatial logic. Approached along the main axis, visitors are received by a double-gabled, centrally opening gateway leading through the narthex and a transitional space into the domed octagonal sanctuary. Filigree columns stand before the wall surfaces enclosing the octagon, marking a circulation zone. The segmented dome, supported by glued laminated timber beams resting on high concrete lintels, rises above the central space. Daylight filters in through the small windows of the octagonal buttress far overhead, supplemented by triple windows cut into the transverse walls. The brick masonry is enriched by bricks of various patterns, sizes, and bonding types.
Roman Catholic Church, Felsőpakony (1994)
A fine example of the consistent, tradition-based application of sacred geometry is Ferenc Török’s Roman Catholic parish church in Felsőpakony, consecrated in 1994. Standing at the corner of a six-way junction in the centre of a gridded street layout near the southeastern boundary of Budapest, the church draws inspiration from the Hungarian pilgrims’ church in Rome, the Early Christian round church of Santo Stefano Rotondo, as well as from Török’s own Kazincbarcika church (1991–95). The defining feature of the Felsőpakony church is that the centralised space surrounding the altar is intersected by an elevated gallery running parallel to the longitudinal axis. In its layout the building offers a new interpretation of the classical problem of “squaring the circle,” reconciling the circular and axial geometries.
Church of the Hungarian Saints, Budapest (1994–1996), co-designer: Mihály Balázs
Hungary’s government decided that Budapest would host a world exposition in 1996. The EXPO complex, planned south of the Petőfi Bridge, would later have served the Budapest University of Technology. The northern section of the proposed campus was designated as the site of the Vatican Pavilion, intended afterwards to house the university chaplaincy. Ferenc Török and Mihály Balázs prepared the plans for the ensemble comprising the church and its administrative facilities. Although after a change of government the world exposition was removed from the agenda and the campus was built in a modified form, the church was completed and consecrated in 1996, on the 1100th anniversary of Hungarian statehood.
The concept is based on the interplay of centralised and axial spatial systems. A key element is the dome clad in cork panels, constructed atop a ring of faceted plates that accommodate “cast glass-eye” skylights. The cross with corpus, set before the golden apse wall, is the work of painter László Somogyi-Soma. A sweeping ramp encircles the church, originally intended to bear the – ultimately unrealised – Stations of the Cross. Traditional materials such as differently finished stone walls, brickwork, and timber structures are arranged in ways that serve their respective functions. The basement houses an urn-crypt and funerary chapel evoking the atmosphere of the catacombs, along with a small lecture hall. The separate brick-built parish building, linked to the church by an elevated bridge, helps form the intervening spaces into a unified sacred ensemble.
Ecumenical Airport Chapel, Budapest–Ferihegy II (1998), co-designer: György Major
Traditionally, travellers say a prayer before setting out or upon arrival. Even in busy locations such as Budapest Liszt Ferenc (Ferihegy) Terminal 2, the right setting for prayer is one that offers intimacy and tranquillity. The chapel created in 1998 by architects Ferenc Török and György Major was therefore placed apart from the main passenger flow: a separate corridor on the mezzanine level – accessible by escalator – led to it from the hexagonal departure lounge. Built with refined structural detailing and exceptionally high-quality materials, the chapel was unfortunately demolished by the airport-operating consortium in 2008; a new chapel, reusing part of the original interior, opened only five years later, in December 2013.
Teaching Activity
From 1960 he served at the university as an assistant lecturer at the Department of Public Building Design, later teaching at the Department of Drawing and Form Studies. His mandatory two-year professional practice was completed at state planning company KÖZTI, in the studio of Lajos Gádoros. Upon returning to the university he became a senior lecturer (1968) at the Department of Public Building Design, later associate professor and deputy head of department (1983). From 1992 he was full professor at the Department of Drawing and Form Studies.
He obtained his DLA degree in 1997 and, from 1992, taught at the Master School of the Association of Hungarian Architects. He served on the Habilitation Committee and the Master Panel of the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Budapest, as well as on the Hungarian Accreditation Committee.
Between 1996 and 2000 he was head of the Department of Public Building Design. His first step was to strengthen the department’s teaching staff by appointing highly accomplished, Ybl-prize-winning architects. He placed great emphasis on enhancing the department’s scholarly and creative output, supporting the achievement of DLA degrees and habilitations. Students worked on real architectural challenges in specific localities, addressing urban-design tasks and the design of public buildings.
On his initiative, in 1999 he prepared the launch of an Architectural Academy to provide postgraduate architectural design education. According to the plan approved by the Dean’s Council, successful applicants would complete a two-year programme and defend a final diploma, after which they could earn the É-1 chief designer qualification.
From 2000 Ferenc Török faced a serious illness that limited his ability to work, and in 2005 he withdrew from university teaching. He continued to take on design commissions and, returning to a passion of his youth, devoted increasing time to drawing. His drawings have been featured in several publications and exhibitions with notable success.
Summary
Ferenc Török’s architectural work cannot be separated from his activity as a teacher and his public roles. As an authentic teacher, a public intellectual and a deeply humane person, he became a role model not only for his students and colleagues, but for almost everyone who knew him. His buildings and competition entries have been published in international and Hungarian journals. His scholarly work is grounded in his practice as both designer and educator – he distilled those experiences into books, notes, studies and lectures. Many of his writings and talks examine the changing social and functional role of cultural and sacred spaces, as well as the significance of architectural ethics.
His wide-ranging oeuvre is marked by numerous public buildings, residential works, heritage reconstructions and ecclesiastical projects. He designed more than ten churches, all characterised by human scale and carefully crafted communal spaces. Revered as a master of regional architecture, Ferenc Török always created works that responded to their specific sites, local expectations and circumstances.
It is beyond doubt that Ferenc Török is a school-forming architect whose influence, while direct for decades during his teaching career, continued indirectly through his students after he left teaching. His built works can be visited and experienced; his designs and drawings can be studied; his publications and textbooks can be read – but the full impact of his pedagogical activity is harder to assess. What can already be stated is that his gifted students are increasingly becoming formative figures of contemporary Hungarian architecture, and that through his roughly forty-five years of teaching at the Department of Public Building Design at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics he created a distinctive, non-institutional, latent architectural workshop.
The true extent of the achievements of Professor Ferenc Török’s more than four decades as an architect-teacher can only be assessed later, as the careers of the many students he set on their way have so far only partially unfolded.
[2015]