András Ferkai has been elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Date: 2022.05.06
At the 195th General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, university professor and professor emeritus of MOME Institute for Theoretical Studies András Ferkai was elected a corresponding member of the Academy.

András Ferkai was born in 1953 in Budapest. In 2015, he became a Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He is a professor Emeritus of Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. His special fields of expertise are architectural history, architectural theory and heritage conservation. 

His most notable scientific accomplishments include the exploration of the topography and intellectual history of Hungarian architecture between the two World Wars. Two of his massive volumes presenting the buildings of Budapest in this period have become an authoritative reference for the scientific community. He published papers analysing the architectural thinking, mostly modern concepts, of the era, and dedicated his entire candidate’s paper to conceptual changes in national architecture.
He received an Opus Mirabile Award and a PhD for his monograph on Farkas Molnár, which represented a novelty in terms of historical writing. As a member of international organisations, he started getting involved in the historic preservation of modern buildings first on a theoretical basis, then later in practice in the form of scientific documentation and district heritage protection documentation. More recently, his interest has turned to the decades after 1945, resulting in monographs on three illustrious architects and a national design company. He has been a lecturer for 30 years, as well as a constant fixture of the scientific scene and an internationally renowned specialist.

 

He came to teach at the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts at István Gergely’s invitation in 1990. After heading the Professional Theory Research Group of the academy until 1993, he started working at the Architecture Department reorganised by István Ferencz, where he taught the five-semester-long architectural history course. In addition, he was also involved in the teaching of art history at the Institute for Theoretical Studies and the work of the Doctoral School.
In 2005, when appointed head of the Institute for Theoretical Studies, he was transferred to and became a full-time staff member of the institute. It was during his mandate that theoretical studies were organised into a two-tier academic education system and credit system, and a new institute incorporating all theoretical areas was established. The institute’s Bylaws served as a model for the rest of the institutes that were set up later. He went on to work as a university professor at MOME’s newly established Institute for Theoretical Studies, and head of the Design and Art History Department. He was involved in developing the accreditation documentation for the Design Culture BA and the Design Theory MA, and worked as programme lead for the former and head of programme for the latter up until the end of 2019.
After his retirement, he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus in 2020. Currently he is teaching architectural history at the Institute for Theoretical Studies. 

  

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