The Ybl Conference is enjoying growing popularity year after year
After four years, the annual conference organized by the Ybl Miklós Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering can now be considered a tradition. This year, it was held on May 8th in the prestigious Thököly út building. The focus of this year's event was on the identity, building culture, and communities of Central and Eastern Europe ('East Central Europe: Let’s Build Together'), but this motto was naturally intended to inspire rather than limit the speakers
Accordingly, the topics presented by the nearly 140 speakers and a large number of exhibitors were exceptionally diverse this year. Researchers, practitioners, and educators from both the domestic and international scenes presented their research in twenty-three sections and in two languages.
Dr. András Horkai, Assistant Professor and Vice-Head of Department, welcomed the participants, expressing his gratitude to all those involved in the organization, with special thanks to the founders of the conference series, Dr. Habil. Viktória Sugár, Vice-Rector for Sustainability and Strategic Development, and Dr. Habil. Zsuzsanna Fáczányi, Vice-Dean for Research, as well as for the support of Prof. Dr. Levente Kovács, Rector, and Prof. Dr. Anthony Gall, Dean.
Prof. Dr. Anthony Gall emphasized that the conference has undergone significant development over the past four years: the circle of speakers and the range of topics covered have expanded to such an extent that every participant can now find the areas most relevant to them. Welcoming the audience, he pointed out that the character of the event is shaped by the attendees themselves, bringing an international scientific community to life year after year. He also noted that the true value of research manifests in knowledge sharing and the professional discourse that develops around various issues. As Dean of the Ybl Faculty, he expressed his gratitude to the organizers and colleagues working behind the scenes, whose dedicated work made the event possible.
Viktória Sugár PhD, Vice-Rector for Sustainability and Strategic Development, welcomed the gathered audience on behalf of the leadership of Obuda University and the organizing committee. As a founder, she noted with pleasure the continuously growing interest in the event. Reflecting on this year's motto, she highlighted the importance of Central European values and the inspiring diversity of the topics built around them. In closing, she praised the close-knit community of the faculty, which, alongside the professional and scientific standards of the conference, also creates the friendly, welcoming atmosphere that permeates the daily life of the institution.
For the first time this year, an international authority, Prof. Richard P. Anderson from the Department of Architectural History and Theory at the University of Edinburgh, delivered the plenary lecture on the evolution of Central and Eastern European architecture during the Cold War. Presenting fresh results from ongoing research, the presentation placed architecture and the built environment into a broader historical and community context, revealing the network of connections between Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Czechoslovak, and East German professional discourses of the time, which evolved along fundamentally similar policy questions and professional interests. The Scottish professor's thought-provoking lecture offered an external perspective on the processes that took place during the Cold War, the region's relationship with modernism, the work of the local CIAM group, and those architectural achievements significant even on an urban scale that continue to shape our built heritage and thinking to this day. One of the most exciting aspects of the lecture and research was uncovering the background that lay behind the official agenda—the representative documents, political visits, and carefully staged photographs—showing what was actually happening on the real professional ground.
The presentations took place in three phases across a total of eight rooms, with the program organized by theme and language for each section again this year. Fitting the faculty's profile and the current challenges of our time, sustainability continued to play a significant role in the sessions, examining the issue from the scale of individual buildings to the urban level. Alongside forward-looking topics such as engineering achievements, infrastructure development, innovative technologies, and algorithmic design methodologies, a large number of research projects focused on the protection and management of built heritage, as well as the preservation and lessons of local and vernacular architectural values.
Compared to last year, a key change was that PhD students from the Doctoral School of Architecture, Design, and Technology—managed by the Ybl Faculty—did not present in a standalone session this time, but were integrated into the appropriate sections according to their topics. The community of this young, dynamically developing Doctoral School, now entering its second year, represented a wider circle both in terms of student numbers and the diversity of topics.
Another novelty was that the awardees of the University Research Scholarship Program also presented their practical results and project-based research within the section 'Space Use in Artistic Institutions.' Master's students form the foundation of training the next generation of researchers, and they enriched the conference program with fresh, forward-looking ideas that reflect the perspectives of the newest generation.
The interaction between the profession and the community also came to the forefront of other theoretical research. The search for new paths in the 20th and 21st centuries, contemporary trends, and alternative spatial dimensions served as themes for several sections. These included presentations defining the present and future of the profession, such as current issues in architectural education, career models for female architects, and the self-reflective, critical boundaries between architecture and art.
Looking at the program as a whole, it can be said that thanks to the diversity of topics brought by the speakers, the conference is a great reflection of the ever-widening horizon of the architectural—and, in a broader sense, engineering—profession. Alongside 'mainstream' economic and construction industry developments, it tackles more and more social, community, and local values and issues year after year.
In addition to the efforts of the Ybl Faculty's organizing committee, the event once again owes much to its supporters this year: the National Cultural Fund (NKA), and the journals Magyar Építőipar (Hungarian Construction Industry), Magyar Építőművészet (Hungarian Architecture), Metszet (Section), and the Ybl Journal of the Built Environment, which make the realization of the event and the subsequent publication of scientific papers possible.
Dr. András Horkai, Assistant Professor and Vice-Head of Department, welcomed the participants, expressing his gratitude to all those involved in the organization, with special thanks to the founders of the conference series, Dr. Habil. Viktória Sugár, Vice-Rector for Sustainability and Strategic Development, and Dr. Habil. Zsuzsanna Fáczányi, Vice-Dean for Research, as well as for the support of Prof. Dr. Levente Kovács, Rector, and Prof. Dr. Anthony Gall, Dean.
Prof. Dr. Anthony Gall emphasized that the conference has undergone significant development over the past four years: the circle of speakers and the range of topics covered have expanded to such an extent that every participant can now find the areas most relevant to them. Welcoming the audience, he pointed out that the character of the event is shaped by the attendees themselves, bringing an international scientific community to life year after year. He also noted that the true value of research manifests in knowledge sharing and the professional discourse that develops around various issues. As Dean of the Ybl Faculty, he expressed his gratitude to the organizers and colleagues working behind the scenes, whose dedicated work made the event possible.
Viktória Sugár PhD, Vice-Rector for Sustainability and Strategic Development, welcomed the gathered audience on behalf of the leadership of Obuda University and the organizing committee. As a founder, she noted with pleasure the continuously growing interest in the event. Reflecting on this year's motto, she highlighted the importance of Central European values and the inspiring diversity of the topics built around them. In closing, she praised the close-knit community of the faculty, which, alongside the professional and scientific standards of the conference, also creates the friendly, welcoming atmosphere that permeates the daily life of the institution.
For the first time this year, an international authority, Prof. Richard P. Anderson from the Department of Architectural History and Theory at the University of Edinburgh, delivered the plenary lecture on the evolution of Central and Eastern European architecture during the Cold War. Presenting fresh results from ongoing research, the presentation placed architecture and the built environment into a broader historical and community context, revealing the network of connections between Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Czechoslovak, and East German professional discourses of the time, which evolved along fundamentally similar policy questions and professional interests. The Scottish professor's thought-provoking lecture offered an external perspective on the processes that took place during the Cold War, the region's relationship with modernism, the work of the local CIAM group, and those architectural achievements significant even on an urban scale that continue to shape our built heritage and thinking to this day. One of the most exciting aspects of the lecture and research was uncovering the background that lay behind the official agenda—the representative documents, political visits, and carefully staged photographs—showing what was actually happening on the real professional ground.
The presentations took place in three phases across a total of eight rooms, with the program organized by theme and language for each section again this year. Fitting the faculty's profile and the current challenges of our time, sustainability continued to play a significant role in the sessions, examining the issue from the scale of individual buildings to the urban level. Alongside forward-looking topics such as engineering achievements, infrastructure development, innovative technologies, and algorithmic design methodologies, a large number of research projects focused on the protection and management of built heritage, as well as the preservation and lessons of local and vernacular architectural values.
Compared to last year, a key change was that PhD students from the Doctoral School of Architecture, Design, and Technology—managed by the Ybl Faculty—did not present in a standalone session this time, but were integrated into the appropriate sections according to their topics. The community of this young, dynamically developing Doctoral School, now entering its second year, represented a wider circle both in terms of student numbers and the diversity of topics.
Another novelty was that the awardees of the University Research Scholarship Program also presented their practical results and project-based research within the section 'Space Use in Artistic Institutions.' Master's students form the foundation of training the next generation of researchers, and they enriched the conference program with fresh, forward-looking ideas that reflect the perspectives of the newest generation.
The interaction between the profession and the community also came to the forefront of other theoretical research. The search for new paths in the 20th and 21st centuries, contemporary trends, and alternative spatial dimensions served as themes for several sections. These included presentations defining the present and future of the profession, such as current issues in architectural education, career models for female architects, and the self-reflective, critical boundaries between architecture and art.
Looking at the program as a whole, it can be said that thanks to the diversity of topics brought by the speakers, the conference is a great reflection of the ever-widening horizon of the architectural—and, in a broader sense, engineering—profession. Alongside 'mainstream' economic and construction industry developments, it tackles more and more social, community, and local values and issues year after year.
In addition to the efforts of the Ybl Faculty's organizing committee, the event once again owes much to its supporters this year: the National Cultural Fund (NKA), and the journals Magyar Építőipar (Hungarian Construction Industry), Magyar Építőművészet (Hungarian Architecture), Metszet (Section), and the Ybl Journal of the Built Environment, which make the realization of the event and the subsequent publication of scientific papers possible.
