Project of the Week: György Palkó / Tóth Project

It’s April 18th. Your taxes are (hopefully) filed, the weather is great, and it’s time for Project of the Week! This week’s featured project hails from Hungary. Villa SZE was created by the architectural firm Tóth Project. 

I was immediately drawn to this series because of the way photographer György Palkó displays the colors and shapes throughout the home. There is an interesting geometry throughout György’s work that I really enjoy and it shines here.

Shall we?

Let’s start outdoors. The strong lines and rich complementary colors instantly convey to us that this is going to be a minimal yet impactful space. The green foliage, orange facade, and white slabs stand out against that blue sky and draw us to the building. The repetitive shapes and cascading massing that lead from the upper floor down to ground level are captured perfectly, and create a lovely rhythm in the photograph.

All of these exteriors feature brilliant and punchy contrast, in part thanks to the complementary colors of orange and blue (and perhaps a little help from the analogous blue and green – perfect color theory at work!)

As we move around the building, György pulls our eyes through the space. The warm orange wall contrasts with the splice of blue sky. The angular light feels right at home with the repetitive horizontal and vertical lines throughout. I especially love the faint contrail that continues the lines of the triangular shape in the photo below.

The color palette inside the house is much more serene and sensible feeling, but is still rich in texture. The daintiness of the window treatments soften the hard angular feel of this room, and I’m so glad he didn’t blow out the view.

Let’s head back outside because that’s where the magic happens! When I asked György about this project, he told me everything went really smoothly except that the owner had to leave right in the middle of the shoot, and he wouldn’t have access to the property for about two hours. György used that time to grab some drone footage, but saw that the lighting was getting more and more beautiful by the entryway. He ended up lifting his camera and tripod up over the privacy fence to take advantage of the dappled light. You gotta do what you gotta do!

I’m a sucker for twilight photos. The warm tungsten light coming from the windows and illuminating the stone texture on the facade is so inviting. It contrasts nicely with the blue in the sky and the pool. The reflection of the house mixed with the tiles in the pool echoes the square patterns throughout the entire project.

The balance between the shape of the house and the rich colors here is a perfect summation of György’s Villa SZE project.

A huge thank you to György Palkó for taking the time to share these images with us. He also was gracious enough to talk with me about being an architectural photographer in Hungary. After seeing this project, I absolutely agree with him that the Hungarians create great and interesting architecture! Especially the team Tóth Project.

If you have a project you’d like to be considered for Project of the Week, you can submit it here.