1st European GREEN Conference – EGC 2023

23-26 May 2023 | Vodice, CROATIA

Plenary Speakers

Prof. Dr. Bálint Bachmann is currently a rector at the Budapest Metropolitan University (Hungary) and leads the Architecture Doctoral School named after the Hungarian architect ‘Marcel Breuer’ at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Engineering (Hungary). He is the former dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology of the University of Pécs (PTE MIK) from 2009 to 2018. As a full professor, he teaches Building Design in Architectural and Civil Engineering courses.

He received his bachelor’s in architecture from the University of Applied Sciences (Fachochschule) in Würzburg, Germany in 1995.  In 1999, he completed his Master’s studies in Architecture at the University of Pécs where he has been a tutor at the Faculty of Engineering since 1997. He started a Doctor of Liberal Arts (DLA) at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) Doctorate Program and completed it in 2006 at the Master School of the University of Pécs. His research major was the optimization of residential buildings from 1998 since 2001 he has focused on the practice of heritage preservation and its education. Since 2006 his research topic has been energy efficiency and its effects on human comfort.

He has been co-owner of APM Consulting Ltd. since 2011 offering services for international companies in Hungary. He has worked with his father Zoltán Bachman at Bachman & Bachmann Architects since 1999. In 1997 and 1999 he worked as an Architect at Pálffy & Associates in Tokyo, Japan. In 2010 he founded the APM Consulting Ltd. with Imre Szamosközi MA (since 2016 István Németh DLA joined, now CEO) coordinating complex projects of international partners in Hungary.

Since 2007 he has been a member of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee and the Consulting Committee ACETA of the European Committee in Brussels. He is also a member of the European Network of Heads of Schools of Architecture (ENHSA) and on the Editorial Board of the scientific journal Pollack Periodica. He joins the Research Academy of the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE). He works as an international architectural education expert in different European countries. He was the curator of the exhibition “Spacemaker” at the Hungarian pavilion at the 13th Venice International Architecture Biennale in 2012. He is a practicing Architect, he planned several national award-winning private and public buildings, like the press house in Pécs (1997), the University Library in Yamanashi, Japan (1999) with Pálffy & Associates, Expo Center in Pécs (2006), Cella Septichora World Heritage site in Pécs (2007), E81/G56 Education Buildings, University of Pécs (2019). Since 2017 he is a board member of the Hungarian Chamber of Architects and acts as a national delegate at the UNESCO/UIA Education Committee and at the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) as well a special focus on Research Team ’BIM’.

His main achievement as professor and dean is establishing the fully English-conducted study programs in Architecture, Civil Engineering, and IT Engineering at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (Hungary). Currently, over 500 international students join these programs. He is active in cooperation with universities worldwide. The most important international partners are the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (Germany) and Metropolitan State University of Denver (CO. USA) maintaining the exchange of students and teaching staff. His faculty has provided a minor study program in Architecture for students of engineering in Denver since 2014. He co-organizes the 4×4 Workshop international students’ competition with the Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing (CAFA) and 24 other art academies from China. He has led scientific and art post-graduate programs in Architecture at the Marcel Breuer Doctoral School since 2014.

Scientific Publications

Personal web-page

Plenary lecture:

Contemporary Normals in Architecture and Liveability
Gabriella MEDVEGY and Bálint BACHMANN

Architecture evolves continuously and causes changes around the classical duties of the architect inside. We love to feel how well-detailed and layered this profession is, with the well-known related fields next to architecture, such as ‘construction,’ ‘design’, ‘urban planner,’ ‘interior designer,’ or ‘product designer, etc.’
On the other hand, the time of the so-called ‘tech- professions’ has come. According to the ‘Industry 4.0 Strategy’, these new professions are: smart mobility, smart buildings, smart homes, social web, business web, smart logistics, or smart grid. There is a guess, that these new platforms will be crossed with the classical tools – for sure, they might be merged already. Time makes sure that architecture can’t get away without any impact too. And what about the future? It says, ‘living,’ ‘health,’ ‘food,’ and ‘mobility’ are keywords. All the people will definitely need a place always to live. Human health has context with architecture also since we spend our life inbuilt physical spaces in 75-80 percent of. It matters how these places are. Food? It means not only agriculture but a place for eating and creating. The wish to change locations means mobility in cities.

For sure, architecture, urban places, or easily their design methodologies need to be sensitive to the daily phenomenon. According to some flagship research at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Engineering and IT (Hungary): urban revitalization and less carbon footprint, the built heritage and intelligent equipment, well-being, and health efficiency are compatible. All these pairs have a common objective: to look for physical spaces for living in a livable environment – with the promise of the future. Some direct contemporary consequences are visible on the horizon, such as the claim to be green, sustainable, or energetically independent – with the support of digitalism, high-tech tools, or alternative design methodologies. And still being human.

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