Armuth Miklós - Lőrinczi Zsuzsa (szerk.): A Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem Történeti Campusa (Budapest, 2023)
PECZ Samu élete és munkássága - The Life and CEuvre of Samu PECZ Gy. Balogh Ágnes
2 7 6 ö □ z < Samu Pecz had been the head of the department for 34 years, up until his death in 1922. In the academic years 1898-1899 and 1899-1900 he was the dean of the engineering and architectural departments. In 1911 he published his text-book titled Public Construction Structures. In 1922 Sándor Károlyi compiled another, two-volume text-book based on Samu Pecz's lectures. Besides his activities as a lecturer, Pecz also had remarkable practice as a designer architect sharing with and passing on the joy of creation to his students. As a "founding member" (which at the time meant a kind of permanent membership) of the Association of Hungarian Engineers and Architects, he held important functions in professional public life. From 1901 on he was a member of the Architectural Board of the Association of Hungarian Artists and, between 1906 and 1909, also the chairman of the Association of Hungarian Architects. Samu Pecz died on September 1st, 1922, at the age of 68 after a long-term illness. Initiated by his students, an ornamental fountain was erected in his honour in 1929 next to the church he had designed in Szilágyi Dezső Square by architect Béla Rerrich, formerly an assistant of Pecz and sculptor Lajos Berán which portrayed Pecz in the attire typical of medieval master builders. As Béla Rerrich summarized, Samu Pecz "...was a genuine master of structures." It is true that he always emphasised the importance of finding solutions to structural issues, and he prioritized structural principles as opposed to architectonic effects. Besides Neo-Gothic vaultings made of brick with a traditional design he also used modern materials. He had a preference for innovation - especially iron and ferro-concrete structures. He planned every part of his structures in a "graphostatic manner" (technically designing). As a lecturer of building construction (tectonics) he solved numerous structural-technical tasks by integrating the most modern structures and exterior forms that are difficult to reconcile. Some of his buildings, such as the Gólyavár, the Market Hall, the National Archives and the storehouse of the Library of the Technical University are brilliant designs. As Alajos Hauszmann wrote about Samu Pecz: "...he especially excelled as a constructor who always evolved his designs from the structure, planned gorgeous vaultings and his sense of space refined by designing halls always guided him to find the formal solution." When referring to his own buildings in his memoirs, Samu Pecz always emphasised the importance of certain aspects of design, such as practicability and structuring, the costs of construction and the budget savings he achieved as well as issues of fire-prevention, whilst he simply failed to mention artistic concerns. Besides his remarkable oeuvre as an architect, Samu Pecz was also a great scholar and lecturer of the Technical University as well as a professor praised by his students whom they liked in spite of his rigourousness. His contemporaries rated his personal qualities very high, and Alajos Hauszmann referred to him as a true friend of his "...whose pure character, generosity and profound knowledge was acknowledged by everyone".
