HUNGARIAN ARK.

The focus of Hungary's pavilion is a calm open-air room enclosed by a heroically scaled yet sensuous timber hull.

With its slatted timber hull and translucent tented roof, Hungary's pavilion is like a great ark beached on the foreign shores of Expo. Though it does not have the sensuous impact of Imre Makovecz's memorable Hungarian pavilion at Seville (AR June 1992 -- sadly Makovecz seems to have resorted to self-parody in much of his recent work), Gyorgy Vadasz's compact, sculptural building has detectable overtones of Makovecz's romantic anthropomorphism.

The pavilion is divided into two parts. An L-shaped service block contains the functional guts of the scheme, including a cafe, VIP hall, shop, stores and kitchen. Crisply executed in concrete and glass with a landscaped roof, the service block merges discreetly into its surroundings. The two low wings form a neutral backdrop to the timber hull, which rises up gracefully to greet visitors. Two crescent-shaped, inhabited walls enclose a lens-shaped outdoor room. Clad in horizontal slats of red pine, the walls bow gently outward, like cupped hands or a ship's hull. Crowned by a lightweight, tent-like roof, the central space is transformed into a theatre in the round, animated by a short, cyclical son et lumiere. Mobile wall panels peel away to reveal film projectors and screens, and shifting lights cast shimmering patterns on the canvas roof. Infused with a gentle radiance and the scent of pine, the timber womb is an enclave of tranquil, sensory delight. Placed outside the swell of the hull are some debatable sculptures (including a Pegasus with harps for wings), but even such moments of earnest Eastern European kitsch cannot detract from the essential drama and dignity of Vadasz's heroic pavilion.