“In the late seventies and early eighties, I prepared designs for quite a few new village halls, conversions and extensions. We were looking for construction materials for almost zero-budget building projects. I returned to timber for good. I went with my builders to the woods to pick out logs. To coordinate and awaken a sense of common interest between the socialist administration and the population. Construction began at a time when the communist city leaders had no financial management experience. It was an era where individuals got richer, but communities were disintegrating. Our first village halls were built amidst this community disintegration, in the slow desertion of villages. Back then it was different to wait for the goal, the building to be completed. So much bickering, anxiety, quarrelling and reconciliation, a tightrope walk between officialdom and the awakening community that was almost fast asleep. And then, one after the other, came the inauguration ceremonies. You think you are building a house for everyone, for God. Then, when it is finished, you are left alone in the halls. Perhaps the struggle, the uncertainty was God himself. And when the house is finished, God’s cold place is left behind, and whatever is left behind becomes man’s, the community’s property. I did all I could to build the house beautifully, with local materials, at low cost, for the purposes of the community. I need the connection to the historical and geological environment, I need the materials, the idea and the beauty, but most importantly the drama of construction itself.” (Imre Makovecz)

Drawings

Designs

Photos