The conference, entitled ‘Modernism Revisited: Typology – Topography – Strategy’, was organised by the Jaromír Krejcar Society and the ETOM NEB Lab, with the support of DOCOMOMO International and the Slovak Chamber of Architects. On the scientific committee, alongside Ákos Moravánszky, Professor Emeritus at ETH Zurich, the Hungarian architectural community was represented by Dániel Kovács, a curator at the Hungarian Musem of Architecture and Monuments Protection Documentation Center, who also chaired a session at the event.
The three-day conference took place in Trenčín, Slovakia amidst keen interest; the section sessions were attended by audiences of 40–60 people, whilst the number of attendees at the keynote lectures exceeded one hundred. The latter were delivered by three internationally renowned scholars in the field. Henrieta Moravčíková, a member of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, who also gave a lecture at the Walter Rózsi Villa this spring at our invitation, presented the development of post-war Slovak architectural identity. Beatriz Colomina, a professor at Princeton University, spoke about the interrelationships between hygiene, healthcare and architecture in the context of her recently published books, X-Ray Architecture, Sick Architecture and We the Bacteria. Wessel de Jonge, a professor at TU Delft, addressed the practice of modern heritage conservation in his lecture; among other projects, he has overseen the restoration of the Van Nelle factory, the Zonnestraal sanatorium and the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
A significant number of Hungarian researchers also presented their findings at the conference. Among the students from the Doctoral School of Architecture at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) were Péter Batizi-Pócsi and Petra Probstner; Péter Juhász, a doctoral student at the Moholy-Nagy University of Design Budapest (MOME); and Domonkos Wettstein, a member of the Hungarian academic staff, all gave presentations at the conference.
Also worthy of mention is the Okruhový dom armády (ODA), the venue chosen for the conference, which was originally built as an officers’ club for the Czechoslovak army stationed in Trenčín, based on plans drawn up by Ivan Kočan, Eduard Horváth and Dušan Bálent in 1977–1978. The building, which remains in its original condition and is maintained by the military, is a rare gem of Slovak architecture from that era, characterised by its exceptional complexity.
Dániel Kovács
