(b Vienna, 6 Sept 1906). Dutch architect of Austro-Hungarian birth. He began his training at the Magyar Iparmüvészeti Iskolában (Applied Arts School), Budapest (1924); in 1926 he became an apprentice with Jan Wils in the Netherlands, where he met Cor van Eesteren who was managing Wils’s office. This experience introduced Bodon directly to the theories of De Stijl and functionalism. He returned to Budapest and produced some Constructivist designs, which were not enthusiastically received, and in 1929 he settled permanently in the Netherlands, working for various firms including Buijs and Lürsen in The Hague and Amsterdam until 1932. His first major work was the renovation and design of the Schröder and Dupont bookshop (1932) on the Keizersgracht, Amsterdam, a functionalist design based on a single, open space, incorporating colour and metal railings, which attracted much attention. During 1934–9 he was office manager for Benjamin Merkelbach and Charles Karsten (1904–79) in Amsterdam, assisting on their AVRO Radio studio building (1934–6), Hilversum. He was a member of the functionalist group Architectengroep De 8 and of CIAM (1932–56) and worked on many study groups in the 1940s and 1950s, such as the Post-war Housing Committee formed by the Dutch architects’ association, as well as teaching in Amsterdam. In 1955 he joined the architectural partnership Drexhage, Sterkenburg, Bodon and Venstra. His work continued to reveal functionalist concerns for practicality and objectivity, and he became much sought-after for complex projects, many of which nevertheless manifest a refined simplicity externally. Well-known examples include the RAI exhibition and conference centre (1951–64), Amsterdam, with high-level glazing on steel space frames; the extension of the Museum Boymans–van Beuningen (1963–72), Rotterdam; and the headquarters (1974–6) of Estel NV in Nijmegen, a stepped, steel and glass composition on a cross-shaped plan, for which he won the European Steel Prize in 1979.

• Bodon, Alexander
  • Groenewegen, J. H.
  • Metz and Co.