Ferkai András: Housing Estates - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2005)

Housing Estates after 1945

■ Condo on the Óbuda Experimental Housing Estate (Olga Mindry, 1959)

within fifteen years. Of that, as many as 250,000 were meant to be completed before the Second Five-Year Plan, starting in 1961, was out. To achieve these goals, industrial methods had to be adopted in the state construction sector. In 1958, a government decree was issued regulating technological design and standardisation, specifying a wide range of parameters (e.g. it determined the average floor space at 43 square metres). The legislation also provided for the use of standard designs and the methods used in wholesale manufacturing. In preparation for that, the Ministry of Architecture drew up a three-year plan of technological and economic development. The largest possible number of experts were to be involved in research and experimentation. For that reason, open competitions were announced for the design of new building structures and fixtures (roofs, doors and windows, built-in kitchen furniture and wardrobes), apartment houses and miscellaneous furniture. The organisers' intention was to build the prototypes of the prize-winning entries and use the experience, together with feedback gained from the public, to finalise standard designs. An area between Bécsi út and Vörösvári út was appointed as the site for the construction of the prototypes. The Western side of this land reached the spot where the demolished Újlak Brick Factory had once stood, while its Eastern end was marked by a few one-story houses awaiting demolition, three modern tower blocks at the end of Zápor utca, and two buildings with outside galleries (by István Hámor, 1946).

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