Visual communication in the city center

We would like to present the following points:

(i)Budapest the historical city center
(ii)Comparison of advertistements in Budapest in the 19. century and today
(iii)Study on advertisement aesthetics
(iv)Accountability for advertisement in past and present day Hungary

One of the two cities that nowadays make up Budapest is Buda and the first important building operations were undertaken in the 13th century under king Béla IV. He started the work on Buda castle which was continued by Zsigmond of Luxemburg, king Mathias. Today, we can still see some pieces of their works.

The present day’s face of the city was built in the 19th century. Budapest is lying on the river Danube which divides the city into two parts, Buda and Pest. They were united into one city in 1872 during the reign of the of Austro-Hungarian monarchy. It was during this time that the greatest innovations in the structure and architecture of the city were made:
(i)A system of ring roads and boulevards
(ii)A network of urban public transport
(iii)Height of the buildings was defined
(iv)Green spaces were included

Though a major part of the city was built within the period of twenty years, the final outcome was not a monotony but a harmonious uniform style.

During the 19th century, an aesthetic element in public advertisments began to become apparent. The advertisements served as parts of buldings and squares. The intention was, as is today, to prove that their products are the most beautiful and the best. Present days’ advertisements do not pay enough attention to their surroundings and only aspire to exhibit themselves without attempting to fit into the architectural environment. The compatibility between the surrounding urban environment and the design of the advertisement is very rarely discussed or even considered.

In many cases, advertisements become part of the architecture, such as the House of Terror or the Parliament, which was lit up with the colors red white and red on one of our national holidays, in order to express symbolize our nation. One can find advertisments, which would like to decieve our visuality with different tricks of perspective. This advertisment uses the partition-wall of the building. There are some advertisments, which keep their archaic feature. They do not become apparent, but they adjust to their sorroundings or use it discretely but in a way that everyone knows what they stand for. (for example the Allianz Bank)

All in all, we can say that in Budapest the advertisments and the old city center are not always in harmony with each other. The advertising companies could notice their opportunity to use the architecture of the city for their purposes aesthetically as well as visibly.



Images of the WORK: