After the end of the First World War Alexander Bodon (1906-93) was among a number of Hungarian impoverished children that were sent to foster families in the Netherlands to recover, a period that should prove decisive for Bodon’s career: through his foster family Bodon got to know Jan Wils, one of the leading exponents of „Het Nieuwe Bouwen“, who left a strong impression on the boy and who surely influenced Bodon’s decision to study architecture in Budapest. In 1926 Bodon interned with Wils and in 1929 eventually moved to the Netherlands to complete his studies. Before establishing his own office in 1939 Bodon worked with architects Jan Buijs as well as Ben Merkelbach and Charles Karsten with whom he designed the AVRO broadcasting center in Hilversum, another great example of the new architecture in the Netherlands. Against the background of this architectural socialization it is no surprise that Alexander Bodon throughout his long career remained true to the principles of „Het Nieuwe Bouwen“.
Still the most comprehensive account of his life and career provides Maarten Kloos’ monograph „Alexander Bodon. Architect“, published in 1990 by Uitgeverij010: consistently illustrated with photographs by Jan Versnel the book highlights Bodon’s most important projects carried out between 1926 and 1986. Among these are his early shop designs as well as the famous RAI exhibition buildings in Amsterdam and his late works in the Rotterdam office of Van Brugge, Sterkenburg & Drexhage (later DSBV), e.g. the Estel HQ in Nijmegen. Together with Kloos’ concise account of Bodon’s biography as well as the illuminating texts accompanying each project the book is old but gold and a very welcome antiquarian find.
