page_title: Laszlo Peter Kollar
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Laszlo Peter Kollar / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Peter Kollar with Paul Walsh at UNSW during the seventies.
context_page_description: László Peter Kollar was an Australian architect and professor at the University of New South Wales, who was known for his Design Principles, which were influenced by the human condition and spiritual traditions.
context_section_description: Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1926, Peter Kollar completed his secondary schooling in Hungary in 1944. The following year he enrolled in the architecture program at the Technical University of Budapest and studied there for the next four years.
  In 1949, eight months before completing his degree, Kollar fled Hungary after the communist takeover of his country. He then spent some time in Italy working for the International Refugee Organization, while also travelling to Austria and Germany. He sailed to Australia in September 1950, initially staying at Bonegilla, a migrant reception centre in Victoria, before moving to Villawood migrant reception centre in Sydney in late October 1950.
  Kollar’s first job in Sydney was as a labourer with the British Australian Lead Manufacturers, but in February 1951 he obtained a position of more personal interest to him — that of architectural draftsman.
  Peter Kollar was studying an Associate Diploma (Architecture) part-time when the course was transferred from Sydney Technical College to the New South Wales University of Technology in 1951, thus beginning what was to become a long-term association with this university. 
  He graduated in 1953 and four years later, in June 1957, Kollar accepted an appointment as a lecturer in Architecture. His ‘Principles of Design’ lectures were said to have had a profound subject matter which focused on the nature of the human condition informed by a deep understanding of great Spiritual Traditions of the world. Over the years Kollar developed a suite of courses that complemented and elaborated on these principles.
  He remained a member of the university’s academic community until his death. In that time he served the university as lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor and, finally, visiting professor.
  He was buried at Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium, Sydney in December 2000.
caption: Photo taken in the staff room at UNSW in the 70’s whilst Kollar was talking with Paul Walsh, one of Kollar’s ‘acolytes’ and a very close friend
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