Experimental Estate Budapest

In 1931, an experimental housing estate with detached houses was built in Budapest. Today it is known as the Napraforgó Street estate. It was initiated by a group of Hungarian architects and realised by the construction company Fejér és Dános. Their aim was to find new solutions to the housing problem.

Among the architects involved were well-known names in Hungary such as Farkas Molnár, Virgil Bierbauer and József Fischer. They brought international modernism to Hungary. The 22 residential buildings on the estate display a broad spectrum of styles. In addition to influences from Art Deco and Expressionism, the majority of the architects orientated themselves towards Neues Bauen and the formal language of the Bauhaus.

The “small housing model estate” was already inhabited when it was officially opened in November 1931. However, the houses were presented to the public in detail in the progressive Hungarian architecture magazine “Tér és Forma”.

The exhibition in the Weissenhofwerkstatt in the Mies van der Rohe House shows the Hungarian Napraforgó Street estate in the context of the Weissenhof estate. Exhibiting historical plans, photos and models. It was created in collaboration with the Hungarian Museum of Architecture in Budapest.

Opening on Friday, December 8th at 7 p.m.
Speakers: Anja Krämer (Head of the Weissenhof Museum), Dr. Dezső B. Szabó (Head of Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Center Stuttgart), Klaus J. Loderer (curator), Gábor Megyeri (Napraforgó Street Bauhaus Association).