The oeuvre of Lajos Zalaváry represents one of the key points in twentieth-century Hungarian architectural history. Through his body of work, one can understand the direct continuity between Hungarian architecture at the turn of the century and that of the present day. Zalaváry himself embodies this unbroken process. Partly because his long and fruitful career spanned from the mid-1940s to the first decade of the twenty-first century, and partly because his architecture drew from the rich experience of his predecessors, adapting it to the needs of his own age. Above his desk in his office of the Public Building Design Company (Középülettervező Vállalat) in Budapest, hung a portrait of Ödön Lechner (one of the most important Hungarian architects at the turn of the century). Lechner’s legacy extended through the work of Béla Lajta, then of Béla Málnai, who followed Lajta’s principles, and finally reached István Janáky Sr. – Zalaváry’s master, colleague, and friend. The succession of masters and disciples, from the founder of Hungarian architecture to Zalaváry, who humanized the ideals of classical modernism and bridged toward postmodernism, spans an entire century.
Family Background and Education
Lajos Zalaváry was born in 1923 in Budapest as the first child of an educated middle-class family. His father had studied music and graduated from the Academy of Music as a cellist. Music remained an important part of his life: he founded and conducted the MÁV Choir, and after its dissolution, he worked as a railway clerk and later as chief inspector. He spoke several languages and taught Slavic languages at a teacher-training college. The mother was a court clerk, but she gave up her work early to raise their two children.
Zalaváry began his secondary education at the Premonstratensian Grammar School in Gödöllő, later continuing in church-run schools in Kaposvár, Nyergesújfalu, and Esztergom, and finally took the final exam in Miskolc. His clerical upbringing instilled in him exceptional discipline, a love of sport, and a balanced moral outlook that became the foundation of his entire career. His family background, meanwhile, nurtured his humanistic education, his love of music, and his appreciation of nature –excursions and listening to music were part of the family’s everyday life. Since childhood, he had a keen interest in the natural sciences, especially astronomy; even today, he likes to say: “I am an astronomer who designs houses.” His remarkable talent for drawing appeared at an early age.
University Years
In 1942, he was admitted to the József Nádor Technical University of Budapest. His choice of profession was inspired not only by his drawing skills but also by his childhood friend, Zoltán Farkasdy, a year his senior, who also became a renowned architect. Through Farkasdy, he met György Jánossy, Farkasdy's former classmate from secondary school – the three of them remained close friends throughout their studies at the Faculty of Architecture. Among his professors, Gyula Wälder, Iván Kotsis Sr., Béla Ohmann, Károly Arvé, and Pál Csonka had the greatest influence on him. His drawing talent was recognized from the first year: his designs were regularly exhibited, and each one always included a tree – every time a different one, suited in character to the plan. This playful habit accompanied him throughout his career: the trees he drew on his plans always reflected the spirit of the guiding idea, the very essence of the thoughts taking form.
In the summer of 1944, many students from his class – including Zalaváry – were sent to the Carpathians in Transylvania within auxiliary military units to dig trenches intended to halt the Soviet advance. By the end of that year, as the front line approached, the Technical University decided to evacuate third- and fourth-year architecture and engineering students, along with their professors, to Germany. The reason was that they had all received SAS draft orders urging immediate military enlistment. The faculties of medicine and pharmacy also joined the evacuation. On 8 December 1944, the train carrying the university students departed from Budapest. They first reached Breslau, then continued to Halle. Germany, however, was rapidly collapsing under the advancing Red Army from the east and the Allied forces from the west; by February 1945, only a forty-kilometre-wide north–south strip of territory remained. At that time, the group from the Technical University managed, in a rather adventurous manner, to obtain a train and set off toward Denmark via Hamburg. On the 8 May, the very day of Berlin’s capitulation and the total German collapse, they crossed the German–Danish border.
In Denmark, they were granted refugee status, and the Danish Red Cross provided for their needs. They continued their studies there but were also permitted to work. Zalaváry collaborated with György Korompay in organizing an exhibition in Stockholm. With the help of the Svenska Institutet, he was able to travel to Sweden, where he met several Danish and Swedish architects. For a few months, he worked in the office of György Várhelyi in Stockholm, contributing to the plans for the restoration of Uppsala Cathedral. During this time, he absorbed the principles of Scandinavian modern architecture, whose cornerstones were simplicity, the use of natural materials, and the ideal of balanced spatial composition. The experiences of the so-called “Danish group” later had a significant influence on Hungarian architecture in the mid-twentieth century. It was partly thanks to them that Socialist Realism, as an architectural style, gained only a brief and somewhat inconsistent foothold in Hungary.
Early Career
Zalaváry returned to Hungary in the autumn of 1947, again with the help of the Red Cross. Since he had to repeat the academic year he had spent abroad, he received his architecture degree only in 1949. He first worked in the office of György Rácz, then with Jenő Kismarty-Lechner. In 1949, together with his friends Zoltán Farkasdy and György Jánossy, he was present at the founding of the Public Building Design Company (Középülettervező Vállalat – KÖZTI). All of them became members of István Janáky Sr.’s studio; from 1965 onward, Zalaváry himself became studio leader. His exemplary loyalty is shown by the fact that he retired from the same company more than five decades later: he spent virtually his entire career as a designer for KÖZTI. It was there that he matured fully as an architect, and there he built his professional network and friendships. His deeply communal spirit and friendly personality made him well-liked by younger colleagues. He also taught part-time at the Department of Public Building Design at the Technical University, alongside Károly Weichinger; many of his former students still consider him their master. He maintained close ties with his former students and was bound by strong friendships to Károly Jurcsik, Zoltán Gulyás, and Ferenc Vámossy.
Zalaváry’s early professional years were strongly shaped by the political and social circumstances of the time. From 1948 onward, the fledgling democracy was swiftly replaced by a one-party system, and architects working in private practice soon found themselves absorbed into the newly established large state design enterprises. Zalaváry was fortunate: within KÖZTI, the studio of István Janáky Sr. enjoyed an exceptional degree of freedom, largely thanks to their involvement in preparing major prestige projects for the regime. For several years, Zalaváry worked as Janáky’s design partner on the plans for the Heavy Industry University in Miskolc, and during this period, while working on architectural designs, he had ample opportunity to experience the true nature of power.
From the mid-1950s onward, he had the opportunity to design village schools, urban residential buildings, cultural centres, and libraries. In these projects, he always looked beyond the specific task at hand, attempting to create building types that translated the commission into the architectural language of contemporary needs. Thus, his first independent design project – the apartment building with circular open corridors on Árpád fejedelem Road in Budapest, built between 1954 and 1956 – became one of the basic types of what was known as “quality apartment expansion”, extending the minimum standard of urban living: the two-room apartment with a hall. In the second phase of the commission, the residential building on Zsigmond Square was constructed, featuring an inner courtyard garden. The third phase saw the completion of the Lukács Street apartment house, containing units designed for multi-generational living. These could be connected to the adjacent one-room apartments with sleeping alcoves, making them suitable for use as offices or medical practices as well. The standard developed in this former bourgeois residential area of Buda was also applied by Zalaváry in the housing blocks of the Csillagtelep district in Csepel [1], designed between 1955 and 1960. The project aimed to provide housing for a working-class population that had rapidly moved to the outskirts to serve the nearby factories, yet was still unaccustomed to urban comfort. In the so-called “cs-apartments,” which were mandatory in the early 1950s, bathrooms were not included; however, from the second block of the Csepel project onward, Zalaváry incorporated them into his designs. His architectural intention – also inspired by examples he had seen in Sweden – was to create a more humane environment than was expected at the time, with four-story residential blocks arranged around generous gardens and apartments that could be connected, featuring living kitchens. Although the housing estate was built in Csepel, its significance could have reached far beyond, had the Soviet-style prefabricated panel housing – characterized by cramped living spaces, massive building volumes, and poor design quality – not soon become dominant in Hungary.
A key characteristic of Zalaváry’s later buildings had already appeared in these first residential projects: the A-B-A rhythm of the window arrangement. Zalaváry recognized this as a distinctive feature of Budapest, and throughout his career, this rhythm resulted in façades of pleasant proportions that communicated harmoniously with their surroundings.
Socialist Realist Architecture and the Master School
The 1950s brought dramatic changes to Hungarian architecture. The so-called “Great Architectural Debate” of 1951 paved the way for the domestic version of Socialist Realism. Although in Hungary the Soviet-style Socialist Realist architecture was somewhat softened by replacing its dominant character with that of rural manor classicism, Zalaváry – like many modernist-minded architects – found it difficult to endure the dictates that resulted in senseless and outdated buildings. The compulsory period of strict Socialist Realism, however, was relatively brief, lasting only from 1950 to 1955. As Zalaváry later remarked in an interview, “we caught it like the flu – and soon recovered”.
In December 1951, the Association of Hungarian Architects (Magyar Építőművészek Szövetsége – MÉSZ) was founded, with Zalaváry among its founding members. Two years later, in 1953, the MÉSZ Master School (MÉSZ Mesteriskola) was established. The government intended to bring young architects under ideological influence and to promote the study of the Russian language. Yet with István Janáky Sr. – Zalaváry’s former mentor – at its head, the school became, despite official intentions, a place for genuine professional development. The Master School fostered an atmosphere of intellectual freedom that was exceptionally rare in 1950s Hungary. Zalaváry completed the first course cycle between 1953 and 1955, and later served as chief architect for the fourth, fifth, and sixth cycles.
The Strive to Create a Healthy School Type: Primary School in Feldebrő (Feldebrői Általános Iskola) (1952–54), and Dr Béla Török Kindergarten and School for the Hard of Hearing (Dr. Török Béla Nagyothallók Óvodája és Iskolája) (1963)
During the 1950s, Zalaváry worked on rethinking several building types. The standard village school model at the time was still inherited from the previous regime – a single-room, undivided elementary school. The new type, designed to support more modern principles of public education, was a modestly built yet multi-class school layout containing only the most essential spaces, with the added requirement that classroom furniture should allow flexible arrangements. Based on this concept – and inspired by examples he had seen in Denmark – Zalaváry developed a single-story, four-classroom village school type, illuminated from both sides and complemented by a separate teacher’s apartment.
The Feldebrő school, with its stone-clad structure, bilateral lighting, and façade articulation reflecting the internal layout, was a unique experiment. The experience gained there was successfully developed further in the School for the Hard of Hearing [2]. The atrium-like central hall, the interplay of brick surfaces and plastered strips on the façades, and the broad canopy above the entrance together created a friendly, sunlit, well-structured building with abundant natural light [SPK1]. In addition to providing residential education for hearing-impaired children, the institution also houses a special pedagogical service centre.
Experiment Toward a Distinctly Hungarian Architecture: Public Bath in Jászberény (Jászberényi Tisztasági Fürdő) (1958)
By the late 1950s, a turning point occurred in Zalaváry’s architectural work. His earlier designs had focused largely on modern solutions for village schools, reading rooms, and libraries in rural surroundings, and he was deeply influenced by the traditional architecture of the Hungarian countryside. At that time, the image of the Hungarian village – especially that of the Great Plain’s scattered farmsteads – still preserved traces of vernacular building traditions. Following in the footsteps of Lechner and his followers, and inspired by the work of Bartók and Kodály, Zalaváry sought to enrich the language of modern architecture and the technological achievements of the mid-20th century with the ancient forms and principles he found in rural architecture. Half a century after Lechner, he once again raised the idea of creating a distinctly Hungarian architectural expression.
The bath in Jászberény is the first – and ultimately the only – example of this architectural trend, and one of the highlights of Zalaváry’s oeuvre. The long, elongated main building is connected by a neck-like passage to two impressive, circular, oven-shaped pool halls. In these spaces, natural light enters through an oculus-like skylight at the narrowed top of the chimney-like structure that arches over the pool, illuminating the curved interior walls covered with ceramic tiles. The narrow window bands, the white plastered walls, and the distinctive forms evoke the character of the ancient earthen-walled, thatched-roof buildings of the Great Hungarian Plain. At the time of its construction, the bath still harmoniously blended into its surroundings, but since then the cityscape has changed significantly.
By the early 1960s, the spread of uniform cube houses throughout the country had erased the traditional appearance of Hungarian villages. The attempt to evoke traditional rural architecture using the tools of modernism remained a tribute to a non-existent formal world.
BME Women’s Dormitory and Restaurant (BME Leánykollégium és étterem), 1963; Designs for the South-Pest Hospital (Dél-pesti Kórház), 1964
At the heart of Zalaváry’s architectural ideal are liveable, friendly spaces. Such is the 400-bed dormitory [3] belonging to the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Műegyetem – BME) complex, which was the first in the country to implement double rooms instead of three- or four-bed units. The seven-story building above the basement demonstrates a clear and straightforward design both in its massing and layout. The façade, with its rows of windows softened by bands of exposed brick, the recessed entrance on the ground floor with its covered, sheltered forecourt, and the two-story restaurant attached to the dormitory block with its large glass façade all create a light, clean, and pleasant overall impression. The ground floor houses the reception, storage rooms, lounge, library, sick rooms, and the caretaker’s apartment, while the upper floors contained the student rooms, several of which were complemented by small loggias.
Zalaváry’s plans for the 840-bed South-Pest Hospital [4] competition also brought something new among Hungarian examples of this building type: instead of placing the units that directly served patients (operating theatres, laboratories, central sterilization) and the patient rooms in separate buildings, he organized the various departments into a generously shaped high-rise structure that tapered upwards, creating a rational, transparent, and well-functioning vertical system. This way, patients would not have had to be transported along a long corridor for surgery; the transfer could have taken place within the same building block. (The hospital was never built.)
Design for the Matthias Rex Hotel, Buda Castle, 1962 and Hotel Atrium-Hyatt (now Sofitel), Budapest, 1976–82
One of Zalaváry’s best-known buildings is the elegant hotel standing on Roosevelt Square in Pest. The immediate surroundings – the ensemble of neighbouring urban palaces and, across the square, the classical façade of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – determined the architectural design of the hotel. Here, as in all his projects, Zalaváry created a calm, well-proportioned volume that fits its environment while also expressing the era of its creation and the spirit of its architect. The precursor to the design of the Atrium Hyatt was the Matthias Rex Hotel plan, which won first prize in a 1962 competition for a site in Buda Castle. Preserving and incorporating certain surviving fragments of the two (mostly destroyed) neighbouring buildings into the new mass and following the original building contours, Zalaváry organized the spaces around a closed courtyard. The concept, which harmonized with the character of Buda Castle, ultimately remained on paper due to the demand for a higher number of hotel rooms; the Hilton Hotel designed by Béla Pintér was built instead.
The idea of the central atrium was realized a decade later in the Atrium Hyatt Hotel [5]. The building’s proportions, based on the golden ratio, create a pleasing overall effect; the articulation of the flat façade with its fine, vertical projecting window bands subtly references the neighbouring classical palace façades, while achieving a light, almost floating impression that softens the large scale of the building. The interior of the hotel was inspired by the atmosphere of Pest’s traditional courtyard apartment houses with their circular open corridors. The spacious, terraced inner courtyard makes a striking impression on the visitor; the skylight floods the entire height of the building with daylight, the layered arrangement of the floors is harmonious, and the lush vegetation and fountains installed in the courtyard create a pleasant ambiance. The space is characterized by both intimacy and elegance. Since its completion, the hotel has served as a model for several other Budapest hotels. Later, the new owner made minor alterations to the interior.
Integrating into the international architecture scene
In the 1980s, Zalaváry entered several major international competitions in an effort to break out of the isolation of architectural life in Hungary. In 1983 he prepared the design for the Opéra Bastille in Paris [6], a competition announced by the French government for the 200th anniversary of the demolition of the Bastille. Zalaváry and his colleagues designed an iron-and-glass structure for the centre of the square, inspired by London’s Crystal Palace, to address the challenges of integrating it into the urban fabric. Also dating from 1983 is his design for a sports complex planned for the Olympics proposed to be held in Algeria: Zalaváry developed drawings for a complex uniting several stadiums, linked by wide roads and complemented by service buildings. In 1984, for the competition to design the World Media Centre in La Défense, Paris, he submitted an Arch of Triumph paraphrase [7], strikingly similar to the Grand Arche later built by the winning Danish architect duo at the gateway to the new district. That same year he also produced drawings for the Museum of Egyptian Culture for a competition in Egypt.
House of Pioneers (Úttörők Háza), Veszprém, 1983
The design of this youth centre in Veszprém was inspired by the forms of manor houses in Southern Transdanubia. The broad, projecting roof above the entrance and the covered–open forecourt beneath it follow the model of the sheltered porch, while the wide, balustraded staircase leading up to it is a 20th-century reinterpretation of the typically symmetrical dual stairways approaching manor house entrances. Two arched ground-floor windows on the main façade break up the large, continuous plastered surface in an appealing way. The two-storey mass fits harmoniously into the townscape, and its colourful, sculptural ceramic band on the façade makes it easily recognizable from afar. The rooms and halls arranged around the central theatre space offer opportunities for a wide variety of activities. The building was demolished in the late 2000s.
Design for the Automotive Factory Research and Development Centre (Autógyár Kutató Fejlesztő Központ), Écs, 1986 and Agricultural Biotechnology Research Centre (Mezőgazdasági Biotechnológiai Kutatóközpont), Gödöllő, 1990
The Rába Wagon and Machine Factory (Rába Vagon- és Gépgyár) in Győr was already the centre of Hungarian automobile production in the 1980s. Zalaváry planned the factory’s research and development centre for the area near Écs, close to Győr – a complex that was to include an educational and dormitory building, a cultural centre, a gatehouse, and the control tower for the test track. [8] The centre was ultimately never built, but the workshop hall type he designed for this project was later successfully used by the Audi plant for further developments.
The research centre in Gödöllő houses scientific institutes concerned with molecular biology and biotechnology. Its exterior appearance emphasises the importance of the scientific work conducted there. Its composition is well balanced, with an atrium courtyard occupying the centre of the buildings. The main entrance connects the corners of two identical, square-plan blocks, signalling the independent status of each institute. The interplay between the lightly connected masses, the vertically grouped windows, the horizontal cornices above the first floor, the recessed uppermost level beneath the glass roof, and the roof terrace in front of it gives the complex a dignified yet playful atmosphere.
East–West Commercial Centre (Kelet-Nyugat Kereskedelmi Központ), Budapest, 1991
This office building [9] stands at Astoria, on the site of the former National Theatre. Its façade aligns with the storey divisions of the neighbouring buildings, while still presenting a strong character of its own. The A–B–A rhythm of the openings follows a characteristic pattern of Budapest’s eclecticism. The large panels uniting the paired sets of windows on each two floors articulate the façade with masterful proportions; the polygonal design of the corner tower mirrors and responds architecturally to the tower on the opposite corner, and the movement of the scenic lift running behind the glass surface adds a dynamic element visible from the street. Inside, a generously designed central atrium is surrounded by offices, which also receive light from the pyramid-shaped, roof-helmet-like skylight above. Following a later change of ownership, the new owner – consistent with Zalaváry’s original intentions – had certain alterations carried out: the lifts were moved into the inner courtyard, and elegant office–meeting rooms were created in the corner tower.
Páty, Design for the Roman Catholic Church, 2002
Raised and educated in church-run schools, Zalaváry’s life was permeated by deep religious faith. As an architect, however, he had no opportunity to work with sacred spaces until the early 2000s. The preliminary design for the Páty church was created in 2002 for an architectural competition. In it, he evoked centuries of ecclesiastical architectural traditions: the cloister, the motif of the colourful rose window, the impressive vaulted structure, and the significance of the light entering through the oculus. The design envisions a church building with an elevated, serene atmosphere, in which faith appears as a profoundly felt experience born from the encounter of external light and internal form. The vegetal ornamentation of the façade recalls Medgyaszay’s decorative style.
István Halis Municipal Library (Halis István Városi Könyvtár), Nagykanizsa, 1989–2001
The architectural competition for Nagykanizsa’s municipal library was announced in 1992, and Zalaváry’s design won first prize. Due to funding shortages, the design period stretched on for years, and construction could only begin in 1999. Harmoniously woven into the urban fabric, the building – with its clear, balanced composition – features arched windows whose alternating A–B–A rhythm and differing sizes articulate the plane of the façade. The ornamentation uniting the large windows across two storeys hints at ancient sources. The interior is defined by the concept of the single-volume “open library”: the entire reading area, free of dividing walls, forms an easily legible space, where users of all ages can move freely among the bookshelves. With its elegant entrance composition of steps and ramps, the library appears almost as an urban palace; the influence of Ödön Lechner’s compositional principles is perceptible. The character of the library subtly resonates with the simplified lines of the nearby Reformed church’s modern block, built in the 1930s, while its floral façade ornamentation and stylised Tree of Life motif harmonise with the world of Medgyaszay’s Municipal Theatre (Városi Színház) in Nagykanizsa, inaugurated in 1927.
Reconstruction and Extension of the Nagykanizsa Municipal Theatre (Nagykanizsai Városi Színház), 2004–2008
Built between 1925 and 1927, the Nagykanizsa Theatre [10] is considered one of István Medgyaszay’s major works, owing to its structural and functional modernity as well as its rich traditional ornamentation. After the Second World War, the building functioned mainly as a cinema; both its exterior and interior underwent crude alterations. It closed in 1992, its condition deteriorated, and many original details were lost. The heritage reconstruction – carried out together with an extension – transformed the building into a multifunctional urban cultural venue.
Zalaváry’s expertise in heritage reconstruction was deepened through the renovation of the Keszthely Palace, begun in 1970 and directed by him for fifteen years [11], where he not only prepared the implementation plans but also carried out full site supervision. His design principles in both Keszthely and Nagykanizsa were defined by fidelity to the original structure as well as by the modernity and usability required by contemporary standards. In the case of the Nagykanizsa theatre, the interior spaces – the timber-beamed foyer and the main hall – regained their original structural form. The exterior sgraffito-like façade paintings were restored, while the extraordinarily rich original interior decorative elements – wood panelling, carved benches with peacock motifs, panelled doors, chandeliers with glass inserts – were reproduced; all were inspired by Medgyaszay’s ethnographic research in the Kalotaszeg region. With its extension providing modern service areas (kitchen, restaurant, conference room, dressing rooms, sanitary facilities, etc.), the Medgyaszay building became capable of hosting the city’s diverse cultural programmes, even accommodating several different types of events simultaneously. During his earliest years at KÖZTI, Zalaváry personally encountered Medgyaszay, who worked there for a short period; this allowed him to experience the legacy as a direct, living connection.
Creed and Significance of His Oeuvre
Zalaváry’s oeuvre occupies an exceptional place in the history of 20th- and 21st-century Hungarian architecture. His buildings, formulated in opposition to the ideological directives of the socialist era, in fact adhered to core principles of modernism – achieved with success in an often hostile environment. His formative experiences in Denmark and Sweden during his university years, and later the constant weighing of considerations inherent in major state commissions, exerted a decisive influence on his entire career, overriding the prevailing architectural doctrines of the time, which were often dictated by political decisions. He was firmly committed to an architecture that creates welcoming, liveable spaces. For him, a building is above all a shelter – protective, embracing, radiating serenity, and composed of spaces that serve their functions intelligently and economically. Accordingly, the creation of shelter stood first among his architectural principles. He also regarded the proper choice of genre, responsiveness to the spirit of the place, and sensitivity to the urban context as essential. In his façade design, the laws of tectonic order guided him. None of his buildings display the undivided glass curtain walls fashionable at the time, which he found characterless. Instead, every project presents a distinctive and expressive façade order that consistently reflects the character of the place, the function, and the surrounding environment. His spatial composition was governed by the correct articulation of the building’s proportional system: clarifying the relationship between the parts and striving for the harmony that defines the work as a whole. He emphasised clarity of composition and rejected all forms of kitsch. The unity of form and content was as important to him as economy of construction. Astronomy fostered in him a fundamentally objective mindset, while his musical and literary experiences formed the backdrop to the lyrical elements in his architecture. Yet above all, it was the pursuit of harmony and the elaboration of balanced proportions that shaped his thinking.
His personality, value system, and architecture are equally illustrated by the answer he once gave to a writer friend who asked what three things he would take to a desert island. Unlike everyone else, who named books, Zalaváry listed three bottles – containing fresh air, drinking water, and fruit. For seven decades, Zalaváry Lajos’s architecture has been nourished by the rich simplicity of nature, and by a constant striving for harmony and beauty.
[2015]
[1] Colleagues: Pál Oltay, István Fábián
[2] Colleague: György Osztié
[3] Colleagues: Csaba Csontos, Miklós Dobozi
[4] Colleagues: Csaba Csontos, Miklós Dobozi
[5] Colleagues: Péter Bodoky
[6] Colleagues: György Skardelli, László Mikó, László Iván, Zoltán Schilling, Tibor Szántó
[7] Colleagues: György Skardelli, László Mikó, László Iván, Zoltán Schilling, Tibor Szántó
[8] Colleagues: Gergely Pantó, Csaba Tompos, Zoltán Turi, Gábor Zoboki, Zoltán Györgyi, Éva Reiner
[9] Colleagues: Csaba Tompos, Gábor Zoboki, Zoltán Turi
[10] Colleagues: Tibor Molnár, Zsuzsa Kerecsényi (interior designer), István Lente (restorer)
[11] Colleagues: Csaba Csontos, Miklós Dobozi, Villő Detre (interior designer)
[SPK1] i.e. sunlit, as already mentioned in this same sentence... one of them could be deleted