ABSTRACT
Hungarian landscape architecture was shaped by modernist functionalism until the end of the 1980s. Landscape and open space structure were very much determined by the basic principles of everyday usage, so the clearly expressed function appeared as an aesthetic value without ornamental decoration or l’art pour l’art. After the events of 1989, a change can be seen in both the content and the function of Hungarian landscape architecture, as a consequence of the transformed institutional, administrative system and the new circle of investors. It also might derive from the quick spread of new theoretical ideas and trends from western countries and from new building materials and technologies. Regarding the content, a freer approach to the ground-plan structure of open space designs and towards ornamentation was noticeable. Later, the self-assertive intention of the designer to articulate a clear artistic essence could also be seen. The fashionable philosophical trends from the West, such as the architectural reflection of post-modernism and deconstructivism, have had an influence on landscape architecture, but only in a gradual way.
