Papers by Luca Csepely-Knorr
Taylor & Francis (Routledge), Sep 1, 2020
The Routledge Handbook of Infrastructure Design, 2022
Journal of Landscape Architecture, 2020
As in many countries, the renewal of existing urban parks became a central topic in civic and urb... more As in many countries, the renewal of existing urban parks became a central topic in civic and urban design in Hungary at the beginning of the twentieth century. Political issues influenced public open space design and the meaning attributed to it, relating to questions about tradition and modernity and to the artistic and social role of gardens. After the First World War, a new political reality brought about the possibility of creating public parks able to break with the historicist tradition rooted in the English landscape garden and the work of Peter Joseph Lenné and Gustav Meyer. This article explains how English and German reform ideas influenced landscape design thinking in Hungary in the first decades of the twentieth century by discussing the writings, designs and legacy of the architect Béla Rerrich, whose reforms led to a new way of designing public green spaces. Keyword: Public park design; Hungary; Béla Rerrich; urban open space; park reform
This document provides a summary of spatial investigations into Cornwall, conducted by Masters st... more This document provides a summary of spatial investigations into Cornwall, conducted by Masters students at the Manchester School of Architecture. The work is the output of a unit with two primary goals: To explore and develop methodological approaches which reveal cross-cutting insights into the operation and performance of space and place. To use the findings of these spatial explorations to explore novel approaches to design which tackle multi-dimensional problems in relation to service and physical infrastructure. The work published within this document comprises exploratory mappings which compare and give spatial context to publically available, existing data. With an overarching goal to understand the context and infrastructure supporting healthcare in the UK, students were tasked with investigating four key themes within the context of Cornwall: Health and Lifestyle Energy and Power Demographics and Economy Networks and Connectivity The summaries provided here are extracts fro...
Journal of Landscape Architecture, Sep 2, 2017
Kutatasunk ket korszakot vizsgal alaposabban. A XIX. szazad vegenek es a XX. szazad első evtizede... more Kutatasunk ket korszakot vizsgal alaposabban. A XIX. szazad vegenek es a XX. szazad első evtizedeinek varosepiteszetelmeleteből a „Civic Art”-ot mutatjuk be, valamint az ennek alapjain, a modernizmus varosepiteszetenek kritikajakent letrejott, az 1960-as evektől kezdődő „Urban Design”-t. Mindket era jellemezhető egy olyan tervezői attitűddel, varosepiteszet elmeleti kulturaval, amelynek celja a jol hasznalhato terek (Cultures of good place-making) kialakitasa volt (Bohl, 2009). A ket korszak osszehasonlitasanal fontos megemliteni, hogy egyreszt sok szempontbol azonos gazdasagi-tarsadalmi jelensegek zajlottak, masreszt az ezekre nyujtott reakcio azonos tarsadalmi csoportoktol erkezett. Az előbbi peldajakent lehet emliteni a dramai gazdasagi es technologiai valtozasokat, a gyors iramu varosfejlődest es migraciot, valamint a hagyomanyos varoskozpontok felbomlasat. Az ezekre a problemakra felmerulő valaszok mindket esetben a tervező mellett a kozossegek epiteseben szerepet jatszo szakmak (ingatlan es uzleti szfera, ipar, allamszervezet), valamint a lakossag kulonboző csoportjaiban fogalmazodtak meg (Bohl, 2009). Tanulmanyunk a tajepiteszet szerepet kivanja felterkepezni ezen iranyzatokban, s valaszt keres arra, hogy szakmank jelentősege es erdekeltsege hogyan valtozott az idők soran. A kerdes, hogy a napjainkig meghatarozo „urban design” teoretika a varosi szabadterek alakitasa teren tudott-e a „Civic Art” korszakanak tanulsagaibol meriteni?
Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography
The first decades of the 20 th century brought a vivid discourse into Hungarian landscape design ... more The first decades of the 20 th century brought a vivid discourse into Hungarian landscape design theory. Although the main question was who should be responsible for the layout of public spaces, architects or landscape gardeners, the debate also expressed an ongoing change in design theory: the birth of modernism. During this period, designers from either architectural or horticultural backgrounds and from various generations aimed at introducing a new Hungarian landscape design theory, simultaneously to the German Garden Reform Movement. The main question of the debate seemed only to be about the scope of professional duties, however, arguments were much more complex. Landscape gardeners with a horticultural background aimed at creating a shift by turning away from the use of exotic plants towards a more ecological and informal way of planting, deriving from the natural flora of the country. Architects, on the other hand, believed in the modernisation of landscape design theory through formal solutions and in the introduction of strictly architectural layouts, not putting much emphasis on plants. Learning from their predecessors, a new generation of Hungarian landscape designers succeeded to fundamentally reshape design theory in the 1930's. One of the leading figures of this new generation, Imre Ormos argued that although the process leading to the new (modernist) design theory was initiated by architects as a formal style, the new way of design must merge architecture (in structural base plan) with nature (in informal planting). Ormos's and his contemporaries' principles shaped landscape design theory of 20 th century Hungary. This paper examines foreign influences that had originally triggered this change and investigates the theoretical writings of Ormos and other individual designers from the first half of the twentieth century to shed light on the question how a merger of nature and architecture in design was able to support a new way of thinking in Hungarian landscape design called modernism.
Britain’s public parks and gardens were desired elements for the urban landscapes of Hungary alre... more Britain’s public parks and gardens were desired elements for the urban landscapes of Hungary already from the first half of the 19th century. Visitors to the British Isles wrote extensively on the ‘green oases’ of British cities. The Compromise Act of 1867 and the union of the three formerly independent cities of Pest, Buda and Óbuda in 1873 created new opportunities for urban development in the rapidly evolving Hungarian capital. England became a key example in this process, and as the deputy president of the newly established Municipal Board of Public Works phrased it: “following the example of the British, wherever there is a square in our capital which we can do without, it must be turned into a promenade” (Podmaniczky 1984, 414).
Sir Joseph Paxton’s name was well known in Hungarian gardening circles as a horticultural expert and Head Gardener of Chatsworth. However, his ideas on public park design arrived to Hungary indirectly at first, through American and German mediation. It was not until the success of the Crystal Palace, and the Crystal Palace Park in Sydenham after that, that his reputation as a designer became widely known in Hungary, too. The iconic ensemble of palace and park was not just extensively published, but also became a must-see for travellers in England, and thus started to exert direct influence. One of the most apparent examples for this impact on Hungarian design thinking is an unrealised plan for the Gellért Hill in Budapest, at one of the most striking natural features of the capital. The Hill gave place to several monumental ideas to celebrate Hungarian history during the patriotic movements of the 19th century. In 1897 a new, previously unexplored idea was published: Instead of making visitors remember the heroic past of the nation, this plan aimed to educate the public in natural history, botany and even garden history. The site would have comprised of a Renaissance inspired public park and a main building, the palm garden, the so-called ‘crystal palace’, both going back to Paxton’s Crystal Palace Park. It was not just thematically but also stylistically new approach towards public park design in Hungary.
This paper investigates the ways in which Paxton’s ideas on public park design affected Hungarian landscape architectural theory: The research sheds light on the chain of international connections and publications which conveyed his key design decisions into Hungary, and thoroughly analyses the most Paxton-inspired, but hitherto entirely overlooked public park design of Budapest, the ‘Palm Garden’ on Gellért Hill.
This paper presents current research on the evolution of urban landscape initiatives in an Englis... more This paper presents current research on the evolution of urban landscape initiatives in an English town throughout a period of terminal decline and anxious change in the country’s industrial towns and cities.
The paper discusses questions of continuous change, development and adaptation in the urban landscape through a case study of Bolton, Greater Manchester during the
decline of industry from 1909-1963. The aim of the study is to explore the changing attitudes towards urban landscape design and the amelioration of industry. This is discussed through the analysis of visionary plans such as ‘Beautiful Bolton’, by
landscape architect and civic designer Thomas Hayton Mawson (1909) and ‘Town of the Future’ by architects and urban designers Graeme Shankland and Gordon Cullen (1963). Although the oeuvre of these seminal designers has been examined in previous research (Waymark 2009; Gosling 1996), much less academic attention has been given to their ideas for Bolton, and to the comparative analysis of these from a landscape point of view.
The two examples chart the progression of an evolving image of modernisation of the urban landscape from the neo-classical City Beautiful approach employed by Mawson, to the sympathetic modernism of Shankland and Cullen. While each plan created alternative visions of the future, they also generated new visions of the past through the amelioration of the town’s public space. The richness of available primary sources available makes it possible to conduct a detailed analytical evaluation of the proposals from the point of view of urban space, and to contextualise them in the history of landscape theory. In conclusion, the two plans present very different approaches to urban landscape design influenced by contrasting aesthetic traditions, yet they highlight the importance of landscape design the process of urban industrial amelioration.
"At the turn of the 19th century, in response to the industrialisation and the accelerated growth... more "At the turn of the 19th century, in response to the industrialisation and the accelerated growth of cities, green spaces in the built environment started to gain significance throughout the world. Public parks, for the first time in the history of garden art, expressed the needs of people from every layer of society, indicating new challenges for landscape gardeners. The profession, which had previously dealt mainly with private gardens, turned towards the “comfort, convenience, and health of urban populations” (Mawson 1927:xxi). These open spaces from the very beginning of their history served the social benefits of society. By doing so, and by placing social thinking into the focus of the planning process, they advocated the basic concept of the modernist movement. Germany and England played equally significant roles in shaping the theory of public parks. Despite their crucially important role, very little academic attention has been given to the influence these countries exerted on Eastern European design theory, including Hungary. Bela Rerrich (1881-1932), a key figure of Hungarian landscape architecture of the 20th century, and the first teacher of garden design at the Royal Horticultural School (Budapest) went on a study tour to Western Europe between 1906 and 1908. During his trip, he developed knowledge in the latest landscape architecture theories, while working in the office of the English designer Thomas H. Mawson (1861-1933) and studying at the Royal Horticultural School in Berlin-Dahlem. Yet the theoretical influences of both countries play a significant role in understanding Hungarian landscape architecture between the two World Wars. Drawing closely on and analysing primary and archival material, this paper will argue that the principles of the two countries shaped the theoretical writings of Rerrich equally, and that his legacy laid out a new way of thinking about the role of public parks in Budapest. The period between the World Wars became the first in the history of urban green spaces in the Hungarian capital, when these were laid out not just for greening empty plots in the cities, but as part of comprehensive city plans, with the goal of social benefits of the inhabitants."
Social and philosophical movements have always influenced the development of landscape architectu... more Social and philosophical movements have always influenced the development of landscape architecture theory. Parallel to the architectural ensembles, private gardens reflected the ideology of their commissioners. By opening these lands to a selected group of visitors, owners desired to educate them through the “most effective art”, both in terms of aesthetics and history (LIKACHEV 1963).
The appearance of the theory of public parks was at the same time result of the philosophical principles of the Enlightenment and the enormous growth of cities. The aim of creating these spaces, for the first time in the history of garden art, expressed the needs of people from every layer of society. By doing so, and by placing social thinking into the focus of the planning process, they echoed the aims of the general public. As a consequence of the broader community as a commissioner, political and social changes can be traced on public park theory more clearly than on any other type of designed landscapes.
Historical changes of the 19th and 20th centuries did not leave untouched the parks built in previous periods, and the various social and ideological transitions are reflected in the different layers of our public parks. Changes in the spatial structure and monumental programs of parks reiterated the altering aims and principles of the community. Through the detailed analysis of the history of the iconic Hungarian public park, ‘Gellérthegy’ in Budapest, together with its precedents and forerunners, this paper aims to map the traces of the social and political transitions on the structure and meaning of the park. As a result of this examination this paper will argue that public parks can be seen as Lieux de mémoire (NORA 1989), and their ‘identity value’ needs to be preserved to achieve successful reconstructions (JACQUES 2000).
The influence of Western aesthetics, art and architecture on Eastern European countries, includin... more The influence of Western aesthetics, art and architecture on Eastern European countries, including Hungary, has always been felt throughout their history. Cultural, architectural and artistic connections between England and Hungary were particularly significant in the 19th and early 20th century, evident in Hungarian landscape architecture as well as in the evolution of the architecture of the capital, Budapest.
Despite these well-known correspondences, little academic and critical attention has been given to the relationship between the English landscape architect and civic designer Thomas H. Mawson (1861-1933) and Béla Rerrich (1881-1932), a key figure of Hungarian urban design theory of the 20th century, and the first teacher of garden design at the Royal Horticultural School (Budapest). Yet the aesthetic correspondences and influences of Mawson on Rerrich play a significant role in understanding Hungarian landscape architecture. Drawing closely on and analysing primary and archival material, this paper will argue that Mawson had a significant influence on shaping Hungarian urban landscape theory and design.
The end of the 19th century marks a significant turning point in European garden and landscape history. The rejection of the ‘Gardenesque’ brought new concepts into the aesthetics of garden design. This was the period when Rerrich went on a study tour to Western Europe, and unusually for Hungarian architects at the time worked in Mawson’s office from 1907 to 1908. This paper will argue that Mawson’s seminal role in the development of English urban landscape architecture, located in his stylistic solutions to bridge late landscape gardens and modernist garden design and in his aim to integrate landscape architecture into town planning, was also strongly influential on Rerrich’s design, informing the Hungarian urban landscape at the turn of the 20th century.
Correspondences between the aesthetic theories and designs of Mawson and Rerrich will be closely investigated, in order to explore how the former’s aesthetic principles manifested themselves in Hungarian design theory.
Agriculture and Environment, Jan 1, 2011
Architectural and urban design connections between England and Hungary were particularly signific... more Architectural and urban design connections between England and Hungary were particularly significant in the 19th and early 20th century, evident in Hungarian landscape architecture as well as in the evolution of the architecture of the capital, Budapest.
Despite these well-known correspondences, little academic and critical attention has been given to the relationship between the English civic designer Thomas H. Mawson (1861-1933) and Béla Rerrich (1881-1932), a key figure of Hungarian urban design theory of the 20th century.
The turn of the 19th century marks a significant moment in European urban design history. In response to industrialization the role of greenery in the urban environment became crucial, and the connection between the city and the park had changed. As Steenbergen states, the role of park changed from being an “island of landscape in a sea of houses” to becoming an essential component of the urban structure. (STEENBERGEN, 1995)
This was the period when Rerrich went on a study tour to Western Europe, and unusually for Hungarian architects at the time worked in Mawson’s office from 1907 to 1908. This paper will argue that Mawson’s seminal role in the development of English urban design, located in his aim to integrate landscape architecture into town planning, was also strongly influential on Rerrich’s theory, informing the Hungarian urban landscape at the beginning of the 20th century.
Correspondences between the theoretical writings of Mawson and Rerrich will be closely investigated, through analysis of primary and archival material, in order to explore how the former’s urban design principles manifested themselves in Hungarian design theory.
„Landscape architecture is primarily fine art, and as such its most important function is to crea... more „Landscape architecture is primarily fine art, and as such its most important function is to create beauty in the surroundings of human habitations, (…) but it is also concerned with promoting the comfort, convenience, and health of urban populations.” (Charles W. Eliot)
The art of ‘place making’ in any scale is a complex task. The aesthetical part ‘creating beauty’ and the functional side are equally important. In the 18th and 19th century the appreciation of landscape architecture, was different from the profession’s nowadays reputation. The designers and the owners appreciated the parks as an artwork. Likachev in his essay about the parks of St Petersburg mentioned it as the ‘most effective art’ and the introductory quotation from the 19th century reinforce the same.
At the turn of the 18th century as reply to the industrialization a new form appeared in the field of landscape gardening, the public park. These artworks accessible for everyone at every time are the first in the history of garden art which was invented for people from every level of society. The idea of them was to prove the people’s physical and psychological health. In the later case, the main aim was to educate the different social groups in many fields e.g. botany, history, and also in moral term, to change their bad habits. Another, philanthropical idea was to create ‘classless’ places, where different social groups can approach each other.
The aim of the presentation is to examine the methods and influence of these artworks on social change in the time of their creation, and during the first half of the 20th century. The paper will also try to find answer for the questions: do we appreciate public parks as artworks nowadays, do these public spaces have the mentioned functions, and do they or could they play any role in social change.
"Urban open spaces, public parks and gardens are significant places of a town, often determining ... more "Urban open spaces, public parks and gardens are significant places of a town, often determining its character. Although their existence dates back to ancient cultures, public parks and gardens accessible to everybody did not appear earlier than the 19th century. That is the time when the term public park in its contemporary sense came into being. These kinds of gardens are also important in Europe, and in the United States. In my research, I use the term public park according to the definition by Karsten Jørgensen (2005): “a public park is open to the public and designed to meet their social needs and accommodate for their outdoor activities”.
The connections between the American and European garden art and the influence of the European gardens in the 19th Century in the USA have been subject of many essays. From the public parks’ point of view, this question is not the same, as in other topics of the garden art. In my research I would like to focus on the influences between Europe - especially Hungary- and the United States in terms of the public parks.
The first theoretical writings about the public park as a new challenge were published by Christian Cay Hirschfeld, in his book Theorie der Gartenkunst in 1779 – 1785. In Germany, Ludwig Sckell’s Englischer Garten in Munich, and the projects of Lenné and Gustav Meyer were very significant. The theory was taken further in Meyer’s book, Lehrbuch der schönen Gartenkunst. In England, after the opened royal gardens, the idea of Public Park appeared in the writings of John Claudius Loudon. In the 19th Century, the designs of Joseph Paxton were influential in England, and also in other parts of Europe. In France, the reconstruction of Paris, which is connected with the name of Baron Haussmann, was also a wholesome effect. The Bois de Boulogne, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Parc Monceau, Parc Montsouris, designed by Alphand served as examples as well.
Frederick Law Olmsted, who often called as ’the founder of the greenway movement’ and ’founder of the Landscape Architecture in the United States’ is the first American, whose influence of the European garden design is extremely significant. As Olmsted first came to Europe as a journalist, between 1855 and 1857, he visited the major public parks on the Continent, for example the Birkenhead Park, designed by Paxton, and the Englischer Garten, planned by Sckell. He was fascinated by this kind of garden art, as he wrote in his publications: Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England. In the year 1858 Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won the competition for designing a new public park in the city of New York, and his design became example for the European public gardens. The evidence for this, is that Meyer wrote about the Central Park in his theoretical essays, as one of the major public parks.
The period between 1870 and 1918 played a significant role in the garden history of Budapest. The parks and gardens built in these decades in the rapidly developing capital city have been key elements of the urban green system up till now, and are in no way inferior to the ones of Berlin and Vienna, the two capitals in which public spaces were considered exemplary. But besides the example of the other two Capitals, in the contemporary newspaper articles also mentioned American public parks, and greenway systems, especially planned by Olmsted and his pupils.
In the history of landscape architecture of Budapest this period was really significant in terms of establishing the theoretical basics of public park design as well. The aim of my presentation is to seek for the influence of Olmsted’s design in the Hungarian garden history at the turn of the 19th Century. Furthermore, to examine the effects it made and to establish, which parts of his theory became key elements of the public park design of the present time.
"
4D Tájépítészeti és Kertművészeti folyóirat (4D Journal of Landscape Architecture and Garden Art) pp. 17-26., 2007
The landscape garden of the Csáky family at Hotkóc is a well-known and important relic in the His... more The landscape garden of the Csáky family at Hotkóc is a well-known and important relic in the History of Hungarian sentimental gardens, owing to the contemporary descriptions and drawings about it. The oil painting ’Scenes from the Csáky garden at Hotkóc’ –the so called ’garden portrait’- is one of these relics. The portraitist János Rombauer was a well-known painter is Hungary, and in Russia to. First in my study I present the life and works of the painter, than I examine the garden structures painted on the garden portrait. On the basis of the descriptions and the drawings I reconstruct the place of the small garden structures. At the end of my study I examine the importance of the painting, other analogous works of art, and other two portraits by the painter, which are connected to the sentimental gardens.
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Papers by Luca Csepely-Knorr
Sir Joseph Paxton’s name was well known in Hungarian gardening circles as a horticultural expert and Head Gardener of Chatsworth. However, his ideas on public park design arrived to Hungary indirectly at first, through American and German mediation. It was not until the success of the Crystal Palace, and the Crystal Palace Park in Sydenham after that, that his reputation as a designer became widely known in Hungary, too. The iconic ensemble of palace and park was not just extensively published, but also became a must-see for travellers in England, and thus started to exert direct influence. One of the most apparent examples for this impact on Hungarian design thinking is an unrealised plan for the Gellért Hill in Budapest, at one of the most striking natural features of the capital. The Hill gave place to several monumental ideas to celebrate Hungarian history during the patriotic movements of the 19th century. In 1897 a new, previously unexplored idea was published: Instead of making visitors remember the heroic past of the nation, this plan aimed to educate the public in natural history, botany and even garden history. The site would have comprised of a Renaissance inspired public park and a main building, the palm garden, the so-called ‘crystal palace’, both going back to Paxton’s Crystal Palace Park. It was not just thematically but also stylistically new approach towards public park design in Hungary.
This paper investigates the ways in which Paxton’s ideas on public park design affected Hungarian landscape architectural theory: The research sheds light on the chain of international connections and publications which conveyed his key design decisions into Hungary, and thoroughly analyses the most Paxton-inspired, but hitherto entirely overlooked public park design of Budapest, the ‘Palm Garden’ on Gellért Hill.
The paper discusses questions of continuous change, development and adaptation in the urban landscape through a case study of Bolton, Greater Manchester during the
decline of industry from 1909-1963. The aim of the study is to explore the changing attitudes towards urban landscape design and the amelioration of industry. This is discussed through the analysis of visionary plans such as ‘Beautiful Bolton’, by
landscape architect and civic designer Thomas Hayton Mawson (1909) and ‘Town of the Future’ by architects and urban designers Graeme Shankland and Gordon Cullen (1963). Although the oeuvre of these seminal designers has been examined in previous research (Waymark 2009; Gosling 1996), much less academic attention has been given to their ideas for Bolton, and to the comparative analysis of these from a landscape point of view.
The two examples chart the progression of an evolving image of modernisation of the urban landscape from the neo-classical City Beautiful approach employed by Mawson, to the sympathetic modernism of Shankland and Cullen. While each plan created alternative visions of the future, they also generated new visions of the past through the amelioration of the town’s public space. The richness of available primary sources available makes it possible to conduct a detailed analytical evaluation of the proposals from the point of view of urban space, and to contextualise them in the history of landscape theory. In conclusion, the two plans present very different approaches to urban landscape design influenced by contrasting aesthetic traditions, yet they highlight the importance of landscape design the process of urban industrial amelioration.
The appearance of the theory of public parks was at the same time result of the philosophical principles of the Enlightenment and the enormous growth of cities. The aim of creating these spaces, for the first time in the history of garden art, expressed the needs of people from every layer of society. By doing so, and by placing social thinking into the focus of the planning process, they echoed the aims of the general public. As a consequence of the broader community as a commissioner, political and social changes can be traced on public park theory more clearly than on any other type of designed landscapes.
Historical changes of the 19th and 20th centuries did not leave untouched the parks built in previous periods, and the various social and ideological transitions are reflected in the different layers of our public parks. Changes in the spatial structure and monumental programs of parks reiterated the altering aims and principles of the community. Through the detailed analysis of the history of the iconic Hungarian public park, ‘Gellérthegy’ in Budapest, together with its precedents and forerunners, this paper aims to map the traces of the social and political transitions on the structure and meaning of the park. As a result of this examination this paper will argue that public parks can be seen as Lieux de mémoire (NORA 1989), and their ‘identity value’ needs to be preserved to achieve successful reconstructions (JACQUES 2000).
Despite these well-known correspondences, little academic and critical attention has been given to the relationship between the English landscape architect and civic designer Thomas H. Mawson (1861-1933) and Béla Rerrich (1881-1932), a key figure of Hungarian urban design theory of the 20th century, and the first teacher of garden design at the Royal Horticultural School (Budapest). Yet the aesthetic correspondences and influences of Mawson on Rerrich play a significant role in understanding Hungarian landscape architecture. Drawing closely on and analysing primary and archival material, this paper will argue that Mawson had a significant influence on shaping Hungarian urban landscape theory and design.
The end of the 19th century marks a significant turning point in European garden and landscape history. The rejection of the ‘Gardenesque’ brought new concepts into the aesthetics of garden design. This was the period when Rerrich went on a study tour to Western Europe, and unusually for Hungarian architects at the time worked in Mawson’s office from 1907 to 1908. This paper will argue that Mawson’s seminal role in the development of English urban landscape architecture, located in his stylistic solutions to bridge late landscape gardens and modernist garden design and in his aim to integrate landscape architecture into town planning, was also strongly influential on Rerrich’s design, informing the Hungarian urban landscape at the turn of the 20th century.
Correspondences between the aesthetic theories and designs of Mawson and Rerrich will be closely investigated, in order to explore how the former’s aesthetic principles manifested themselves in Hungarian design theory.
Despite these well-known correspondences, little academic and critical attention has been given to the relationship between the English civic designer Thomas H. Mawson (1861-1933) and Béla Rerrich (1881-1932), a key figure of Hungarian urban design theory of the 20th century.
The turn of the 19th century marks a significant moment in European urban design history. In response to industrialization the role of greenery in the urban environment became crucial, and the connection between the city and the park had changed. As Steenbergen states, the role of park changed from being an “island of landscape in a sea of houses” to becoming an essential component of the urban structure. (STEENBERGEN, 1995)
This was the period when Rerrich went on a study tour to Western Europe, and unusually for Hungarian architects at the time worked in Mawson’s office from 1907 to 1908. This paper will argue that Mawson’s seminal role in the development of English urban design, located in his aim to integrate landscape architecture into town planning, was also strongly influential on Rerrich’s theory, informing the Hungarian urban landscape at the beginning of the 20th century.
Correspondences between the theoretical writings of Mawson and Rerrich will be closely investigated, through analysis of primary and archival material, in order to explore how the former’s urban design principles manifested themselves in Hungarian design theory.
The art of ‘place making’ in any scale is a complex task. The aesthetical part ‘creating beauty’ and the functional side are equally important. In the 18th and 19th century the appreciation of landscape architecture, was different from the profession’s nowadays reputation. The designers and the owners appreciated the parks as an artwork. Likachev in his essay about the parks of St Petersburg mentioned it as the ‘most effective art’ and the introductory quotation from the 19th century reinforce the same.
At the turn of the 18th century as reply to the industrialization a new form appeared in the field of landscape gardening, the public park. These artworks accessible for everyone at every time are the first in the history of garden art which was invented for people from every level of society. The idea of them was to prove the people’s physical and psychological health. In the later case, the main aim was to educate the different social groups in many fields e.g. botany, history, and also in moral term, to change their bad habits. Another, philanthropical idea was to create ‘classless’ places, where different social groups can approach each other.
The aim of the presentation is to examine the methods and influence of these artworks on social change in the time of their creation, and during the first half of the 20th century. The paper will also try to find answer for the questions: do we appreciate public parks as artworks nowadays, do these public spaces have the mentioned functions, and do they or could they play any role in social change.
The connections between the American and European garden art and the influence of the European gardens in the 19th Century in the USA have been subject of many essays. From the public parks’ point of view, this question is not the same, as in other topics of the garden art. In my research I would like to focus on the influences between Europe - especially Hungary- and the United States in terms of the public parks.
The first theoretical writings about the public park as a new challenge were published by Christian Cay Hirschfeld, in his book Theorie der Gartenkunst in 1779 – 1785. In Germany, Ludwig Sckell’s Englischer Garten in Munich, and the projects of Lenné and Gustav Meyer were very significant. The theory was taken further in Meyer’s book, Lehrbuch der schönen Gartenkunst. In England, after the opened royal gardens, the idea of Public Park appeared in the writings of John Claudius Loudon. In the 19th Century, the designs of Joseph Paxton were influential in England, and also in other parts of Europe. In France, the reconstruction of Paris, which is connected with the name of Baron Haussmann, was also a wholesome effect. The Bois de Boulogne, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Parc Monceau, Parc Montsouris, designed by Alphand served as examples as well.
Frederick Law Olmsted, who often called as ’the founder of the greenway movement’ and ’founder of the Landscape Architecture in the United States’ is the first American, whose influence of the European garden design is extremely significant. As Olmsted first came to Europe as a journalist, between 1855 and 1857, he visited the major public parks on the Continent, for example the Birkenhead Park, designed by Paxton, and the Englischer Garten, planned by Sckell. He was fascinated by this kind of garden art, as he wrote in his publications: Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England. In the year 1858 Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won the competition for designing a new public park in the city of New York, and his design became example for the European public gardens. The evidence for this, is that Meyer wrote about the Central Park in his theoretical essays, as one of the major public parks.
The period between 1870 and 1918 played a significant role in the garden history of Budapest. The parks and gardens built in these decades in the rapidly developing capital city have been key elements of the urban green system up till now, and are in no way inferior to the ones of Berlin and Vienna, the two capitals in which public spaces were considered exemplary. But besides the example of the other two Capitals, in the contemporary newspaper articles also mentioned American public parks, and greenway systems, especially planned by Olmsted and his pupils.
In the history of landscape architecture of Budapest this period was really significant in terms of establishing the theoretical basics of public park design as well. The aim of my presentation is to seek for the influence of Olmsted’s design in the Hungarian garden history at the turn of the 19th Century. Furthermore, to examine the effects it made and to establish, which parts of his theory became key elements of the public park design of the present time.
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Talks by Luca Csepely-Knorr
Sir Joseph Paxton’s name was well known in Hungarian gardening circles as a horticultural expert and Head Gardener of Chatsworth. However, his ideas on public park design arrived to Hungary indirectly at first, through American and German mediation. It was not until the success of the Crystal Palace, and the Crystal Palace Park in Sydenham after that, that his reputation as a designer became widely known in Hungary, too. The iconic ensemble of palace and park was not just extensively published, but also became a must-see for travellers in England, and thus started to exert direct influence. One of the most apparent examples for this impact on Hungarian design thinking is an unrealised plan for the Gellért Hill in Budapest, at one of the most striking natural features of the capital. The Hill gave place to several monumental ideas to celebrate Hungarian history during the patriotic movements of the 19th century. In 1897 a new, previously unexplored idea was published: Instead of making visitors remember the heroic past of the nation, this plan aimed to educate the public in natural history, botany and even garden history. The site would have comprised of a Renaissance inspired public park and a main building, the palm garden, the so-called ‘crystal palace’, both going back to Paxton’s Crystal Palace Park. It was not just thematically but also stylistically new approach towards public park design in Hungary.
This paper investigates the ways in which Paxton’s ideas on public park design affected Hungarian landscape architectural theory: The research sheds light on the chain of international connections and publications which conveyed his key design decisions into Hungary, and thoroughly analyses the most Paxton-inspired, but hitherto entirely overlooked public park design of Budapest, the ‘Palm Garden’ on Gellért Hill.
The paper discusses questions of continuous change, development and adaptation in the urban landscape through a case study of Bolton, Greater Manchester during the
decline of industry from 1909-1963. The aim of the study is to explore the changing attitudes towards urban landscape design and the amelioration of industry. This is discussed through the analysis of visionary plans such as ‘Beautiful Bolton’, by
landscape architect and civic designer Thomas Hayton Mawson (1909) and ‘Town of the Future’ by architects and urban designers Graeme Shankland and Gordon Cullen (1963). Although the oeuvre of these seminal designers has been examined in previous research (Waymark 2009; Gosling 1996), much less academic attention has been given to their ideas for Bolton, and to the comparative analysis of these from a landscape point of view.
The two examples chart the progression of an evolving image of modernisation of the urban landscape from the neo-classical City Beautiful approach employed by Mawson, to the sympathetic modernism of Shankland and Cullen. While each plan created alternative visions of the future, they also generated new visions of the past through the amelioration of the town’s public space. The richness of available primary sources available makes it possible to conduct a detailed analytical evaluation of the proposals from the point of view of urban space, and to contextualise them in the history of landscape theory. In conclusion, the two plans present very different approaches to urban landscape design influenced by contrasting aesthetic traditions, yet they highlight the importance of landscape design the process of urban industrial amelioration.
The appearance of the theory of public parks was at the same time result of the philosophical principles of the Enlightenment and the enormous growth of cities. The aim of creating these spaces, for the first time in the history of garden art, expressed the needs of people from every layer of society. By doing so, and by placing social thinking into the focus of the planning process, they echoed the aims of the general public. As a consequence of the broader community as a commissioner, political and social changes can be traced on public park theory more clearly than on any other type of designed landscapes.
Historical changes of the 19th and 20th centuries did not leave untouched the parks built in previous periods, and the various social and ideological transitions are reflected in the different layers of our public parks. Changes in the spatial structure and monumental programs of parks reiterated the altering aims and principles of the community. Through the detailed analysis of the history of the iconic Hungarian public park, ‘Gellérthegy’ in Budapest, together with its precedents and forerunners, this paper aims to map the traces of the social and political transitions on the structure and meaning of the park. As a result of this examination this paper will argue that public parks can be seen as Lieux de mémoire (NORA 1989), and their ‘identity value’ needs to be preserved to achieve successful reconstructions (JACQUES 2000).
Despite these well-known correspondences, little academic and critical attention has been given to the relationship between the English landscape architect and civic designer Thomas H. Mawson (1861-1933) and Béla Rerrich (1881-1932), a key figure of Hungarian urban design theory of the 20th century, and the first teacher of garden design at the Royal Horticultural School (Budapest). Yet the aesthetic correspondences and influences of Mawson on Rerrich play a significant role in understanding Hungarian landscape architecture. Drawing closely on and analysing primary and archival material, this paper will argue that Mawson had a significant influence on shaping Hungarian urban landscape theory and design.
The end of the 19th century marks a significant turning point in European garden and landscape history. The rejection of the ‘Gardenesque’ brought new concepts into the aesthetics of garden design. This was the period when Rerrich went on a study tour to Western Europe, and unusually for Hungarian architects at the time worked in Mawson’s office from 1907 to 1908. This paper will argue that Mawson’s seminal role in the development of English urban landscape architecture, located in his stylistic solutions to bridge late landscape gardens and modernist garden design and in his aim to integrate landscape architecture into town planning, was also strongly influential on Rerrich’s design, informing the Hungarian urban landscape at the turn of the 20th century.
Correspondences between the aesthetic theories and designs of Mawson and Rerrich will be closely investigated, in order to explore how the former’s aesthetic principles manifested themselves in Hungarian design theory.
Despite these well-known correspondences, little academic and critical attention has been given to the relationship between the English civic designer Thomas H. Mawson (1861-1933) and Béla Rerrich (1881-1932), a key figure of Hungarian urban design theory of the 20th century.
The turn of the 19th century marks a significant moment in European urban design history. In response to industrialization the role of greenery in the urban environment became crucial, and the connection between the city and the park had changed. As Steenbergen states, the role of park changed from being an “island of landscape in a sea of houses” to becoming an essential component of the urban structure. (STEENBERGEN, 1995)
This was the period when Rerrich went on a study tour to Western Europe, and unusually for Hungarian architects at the time worked in Mawson’s office from 1907 to 1908. This paper will argue that Mawson’s seminal role in the development of English urban design, located in his aim to integrate landscape architecture into town planning, was also strongly influential on Rerrich’s theory, informing the Hungarian urban landscape at the beginning of the 20th century.
Correspondences between the theoretical writings of Mawson and Rerrich will be closely investigated, through analysis of primary and archival material, in order to explore how the former’s urban design principles manifested themselves in Hungarian design theory.
The art of ‘place making’ in any scale is a complex task. The aesthetical part ‘creating beauty’ and the functional side are equally important. In the 18th and 19th century the appreciation of landscape architecture, was different from the profession’s nowadays reputation. The designers and the owners appreciated the parks as an artwork. Likachev in his essay about the parks of St Petersburg mentioned it as the ‘most effective art’ and the introductory quotation from the 19th century reinforce the same.
At the turn of the 18th century as reply to the industrialization a new form appeared in the field of landscape gardening, the public park. These artworks accessible for everyone at every time are the first in the history of garden art which was invented for people from every level of society. The idea of them was to prove the people’s physical and psychological health. In the later case, the main aim was to educate the different social groups in many fields e.g. botany, history, and also in moral term, to change their bad habits. Another, philanthropical idea was to create ‘classless’ places, where different social groups can approach each other.
The aim of the presentation is to examine the methods and influence of these artworks on social change in the time of their creation, and during the first half of the 20th century. The paper will also try to find answer for the questions: do we appreciate public parks as artworks nowadays, do these public spaces have the mentioned functions, and do they or could they play any role in social change.
The connections between the American and European garden art and the influence of the European gardens in the 19th Century in the USA have been subject of many essays. From the public parks’ point of view, this question is not the same, as in other topics of the garden art. In my research I would like to focus on the influences between Europe - especially Hungary- and the United States in terms of the public parks.
The first theoretical writings about the public park as a new challenge were published by Christian Cay Hirschfeld, in his book Theorie der Gartenkunst in 1779 – 1785. In Germany, Ludwig Sckell’s Englischer Garten in Munich, and the projects of Lenné and Gustav Meyer were very significant. The theory was taken further in Meyer’s book, Lehrbuch der schönen Gartenkunst. In England, after the opened royal gardens, the idea of Public Park appeared in the writings of John Claudius Loudon. In the 19th Century, the designs of Joseph Paxton were influential in England, and also in other parts of Europe. In France, the reconstruction of Paris, which is connected with the name of Baron Haussmann, was also a wholesome effect. The Bois de Boulogne, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Parc Monceau, Parc Montsouris, designed by Alphand served as examples as well.
Frederick Law Olmsted, who often called as ’the founder of the greenway movement’ and ’founder of the Landscape Architecture in the United States’ is the first American, whose influence of the European garden design is extremely significant. As Olmsted first came to Europe as a journalist, between 1855 and 1857, he visited the major public parks on the Continent, for example the Birkenhead Park, designed by Paxton, and the Englischer Garten, planned by Sckell. He was fascinated by this kind of garden art, as he wrote in his publications: Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England. In the year 1858 Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won the competition for designing a new public park in the city of New York, and his design became example for the European public gardens. The evidence for this, is that Meyer wrote about the Central Park in his theoretical essays, as one of the major public parks.
The period between 1870 and 1918 played a significant role in the garden history of Budapest. The parks and gardens built in these decades in the rapidly developing capital city have been key elements of the urban green system up till now, and are in no way inferior to the ones of Berlin and Vienna, the two capitals in which public spaces were considered exemplary. But besides the example of the other two Capitals, in the contemporary newspaper articles also mentioned American public parks, and greenway systems, especially planned by Olmsted and his pupils.
In the history of landscape architecture of Budapest this period was really significant in terms of establishing the theoretical basics of public park design as well. The aim of my presentation is to seek for the influence of Olmsted’s design in the Hungarian garden history at the turn of the 19th Century. Furthermore, to examine the effects it made and to establish, which parts of his theory became key elements of the public park design of the present time.
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