IN-Budapest Students’ Apartment Block

Architect: Bence Turányi
Text: Mária Tatai
Photos: Zsolt Batár

The first stage of the rehab of a 122-year-old block has been completed in Rottenbiller Street: a multi-storey industrial building in the courtile has been converted into a contemporary apartment hotel. The history of the real estate goes back to the 1870s, the industrial plant structures and residential buildings on the site had been converted several times since then. With a past of 120 years, the industrial plant used to function as a manufactory specialised on cards at its height, later on it was used as a cannery and even an office block. Fortunately, the trusses had been constructed so that it was still worth preserving, instead of entirely demolishing it, only the superfluous additions were removed from the frame. Designers have worked out such a minimal residential unit which can be easily built serially, and yet are also easy to modify according to potentials, needs and requirements if necessary. The reinforced concrete and steel trusswork, the preservation of the masonry surfaces and their careful integration with modern components resulted a unique architectural character in the end. The variety of residential units ranges from 21 to 109 square metres floor area, mostly with a longish and narrow shape, with extreme typologies housing every function even within a minimal width of 2,20 metres.

Investor: IN Group Hungary Ltd., Mordechai Segal
Leading architect: Bence Turányi
Project architects: Renáta Gyurcsó, Gábor Balla, Dénes Regőczi
Fellow architects: Zita Belevári, Fruzsina Ujfalussy, Tamás Fülöp, Bálint Laczkó-Pető, Péter Oravecz, Mátyás Papp, Dániel Pauer, Gábor Sziki
General planning: T2.a Architects
Main contractor: Ocean Bau Ltd.