Napraforgó street 5.
Architect: Lajos Kozma
Kiskorpád, 1884 – Budapest, 1948, architect, industrial designer and graphic artist, university professor
Lajos Kozma (née Fuchs) attended the BudapestTechnical University between 1902-1906. In 1909–1910 he studied painting beside Henri Matisse in Paris with a scholarship. He was a member of the folksy – Art Nouveau intellectual circle of young architects which was following Károly Kós’s endeavours. They prepared sketches, drawings, section plans of village buildings, churches, gates and integrated these motifs into their architectural plans.
Between 1910-1913 he worked in the architectural office of Béla Lajta. In 1911 he took part at the KÉVE exhibition with his graphics, illustrations and furniture plans. In the course of his industrial designer activities he designed and manufactured articles of use and furnishing, for example for the coffee-house New York in Budapest. In 1913 he became a teacher of the school for industrial drawing, and established the Budapest Workshop with the aim to reform home art. During the Hungarian Soviet Republic he was appointed the member of the Art Directorate.
His furniture plans became an image as „Kozma baroque” in the 1920s and he received the Large Gold Medal of Applied Arts for his furniture in 1925. At that time his style was already heading in the direction of Art deco.
His graphic works were also significant. At the beginning of his career he prepared book illustrations, among other for the Kner printing house in Gyoma. In 1925 he made Art déco style plans for the house of Imre Kner in Gyomaendrőd, which is nowadays a museum of printing.
In the 1930s he turned towards designing buildings. He planned the reconstruction of the department store Divatcsarnok, then built numerous apartment houses. The majority of his pure, carefully designed family houses, villas can be found in the 2nd district of Budapest. These buildings already show his joining to avant-garde. One of his best known works is the ATRIUM house (Margit krt. 55.). The week-end house on the island Lupa built for himself is also well known.
From 1945 he was the member of the Architectural Council of Hungarian Art Council and of the Municipal Council of Public Works. From 1946 he became the professor and director of the College of Applied Arts. In 1947 he received a professorship at the Technical University. He was the president of the Új Építészet Köre (Circle of New Architecture) which was established in 1946 to bring together left-wing architects.
Source of photos: Tér és Forma 1931/10, 305-326, Vékás András, Megyeri Gábor
Source of ground-plans: Tér és Forma 1931/10, 305-326