Tér és Forma
November - December 1931
Dr. Virgil Bierbauer, János Komor [Editors]
Lajos Kozma [Associate]
Dr. Virgil Bierbauer, János Komor [Editors], Lajos Kozma [Associate]: Tér és Forma [Épitő Művészeti Folyóirat]. Budapest: Tér és Forma, November - December 1931. Text in Hungarian. Thick photo illustrated letterpressed wrappers. Side stitched textblock. 30 [viii] pp. Illustrated articles and period trade advertisements. Wrappers lightly shelfworn. Contents loosening from the covers. Spine age-toned, but a very good or better copy.
9.25 x 12.25 [23.5 x 31.1 cm] journal with 38 pages devoted to the Hungarian International/Functional/ Rational Architecture of the Interwar years. “Space and Form, a Monthly Architecture Journal” was conceived by Architects Virgil Bierbauer and János Komor and published from 1928 to 1946.
- A Pesti Izraelita Hitközség dohányuccai építkezéseby A szerkestő [includes work by Faragó u. Vágó]
- A Pesti Izraelita Hitközség Fiúreálgimnáziuma és leánygimnáziumaby Gerő Ödön [includes work by Béla Lajita, Hegedüs u. Böhm]
- A Maglódi úti Horthy Miklós Szeretetotthon: I. Tüdőbetegek épülete, Tervezte: Maróthy Kálmán AND II. Gondozottak pavillonja, Tervezte: Szaboles Ferenc
- Budapest Székesfőváros Anyagvizsgáló Intézete, Tervezte: Antal Dezsőby A. D.
- A "Van Nelle" gyarmatáru üzem Rotterdamban, Tervezték Brinckmann és van der Vlugt by Dr. Virgil Birbauer
- Áruház Rotterdamban—W. M. Dudok műve by Dr. Virgil Birbauer
- A "Telegraaf" ujságház Amsterdamban, Tervezték: G. J. Langhout és J. F. Staal
- Színzongora—Le Corbusiertőlby Dr. Virgil Birbauer
- A fiumei kávébehozatali társaság két üzlethelyisége, Tervezté: Ernyei József by K. J.
- Új szükséglet + Új szerkezet = Új forma: Kozma Lajos bútorai
- Uj magyar könyvek
In 1929, Walter Gropius invited Hungarians Farkas Molnár, György Racz, József Fischer and György Masirevich to CIAM II [The Minimum Dwelling], at Frankfurt am Main. This loose confederation of Architects and Designers carried the CIAM utopian vision back to Budapest and “Tér és Forma” became their house organ. The magazine morphed from a building and contractors journal to the premiere platform for the Hungarian Functional movement. The five CIAM memebers built 50 projects in Hungary and “Tér és Forma” covered all of them.
Suppressed by the former communist governments and overshadowed by a focus on German and Dutch early modernism, the outstanding achievements of functionalist architects in Eastern Europe have been largely ignored by historians and critics. “Tér És Forma” is an exceptional first generation resource for Functionalist buildings completed between the wars, the "Golden Age" of Hungarian Modernism. All of the exemplary sanatoriums, hotels, sports facilities, private houses, offices, and religious and governmental buildings are covered with finely printed photography and plans. A scarce and valuable resource.
The Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne – CIAM (International Congresses of Modern Architecture) was an organization founded in 1928 and disbanded in 1959, responsible for a series of events and congresses arranged across Europe by the most prominent architects of the time, with the objective of spreading the principles of the Modern Movement focusing in all the main domains of architecture (such as landscape, urbanism, industrial design, and many others).
The Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne (CIAM: International Congresses of Modern Architecture) was founded in June 1928, at the Chateau de la Sarraz in Switzerland, by a group of 28 European architects organized by Le Corbusier, Hélène de Mandrot (owner of the castle), and Sigfried Giedion (the first secretary-general). CIAM was one of many 20th century manifestos meant to advance the cause of "architecture as a social art.”
Other founder members included Karl Moser (first president), Hendrik Berlage, Victor Bourgeois, Pierre Chareau, Sven Markelius, Josef Frank, Gabriel Guevrekian, Max Ernst Haefeli, Hugo Häring, Arnold Höchel, Huib Hoste, Pierre Jeanneret (cousin of Le Corbusier), André Lurçat, Ernst May, Max Cetto, Fernando García Mercadal, Hannes Meyer, Werner M. Moser, Carlo Enrico Rava, Gerrit Rietveld, Alberto Sartoris, Hans Schmidt, Mart Stam, Rudolf Steiger, Szymon Syrkus, Henri-Robert Von der Mühll, and Juan de Zavala. The Soviet delegates were to be El Lissitzky, Nikolai Kolli and Moisei Ginzburg, although at the Sarraz conference they were unable to obtain visas.
Other later members included Josep Lluís Sert, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, Uno Åhrén, Louis Herman De Koninck (1929) and Fred Forbát. In 1941, Harwell Hamilton Harris was chosen as secretary of the American branch of CIAM, which was the Chapter for Relief and Post War Planning, founded in New York City.
The organization was hugely influential. It was not only engaged in formalizing the architectural principles of the Modern Movement, but also saw architecture as an economic and political tool that could be used to improve the world through the design of buildings and through urban planning.