Tenement House, Budapest

Architect: Jenő Kajdócsi
Text: Bálint Botzheim
Photos: Tamás Bujnovszky

Spreading from Tabán as far as Vérmező, Pauler Street runs along a mostly landscaped area of Budapest as an axis. When viewed from the pavement the strength of the new tenement block appears as if the street front folded in. What we can actually see here is a contemporary interpretation of cour d’honneur as a gesture. Even though its usability as a yard seems limited, the expanse of the facade thus enlarged has the practical advantage that more rooms and decks can face the street. The whitish plasterwork, the strict pierced architecture, the interplay of colourful glass parapets all come to accentuate and enhance the sculpturesque qualities of the arched wall whilst its organic form is traced by an ellipse turned out of the main axis. The house featuring seven storeys plus the ground floor reaches backward with a section longer than 20 metres. As a result, the three apartments are comfortably configurated on the lower levels. The building houses 18 apartments in total, the majority of which comprises two or three rooms, but there are also some bedsitters in it. The three cellar levels comprise the garages.

General architecture: KJT ÉPÍTÉSZ Stúdió Kft.
Leading architect: Jenő Kajdócsi
Fellow architects: Tünde Gesztesi, Enikő Sebestyén, Zoltán Thuróczy, Péter Molnár
Structure: Ferenc Pap – PAP Mérnöki Iroda Kft.
HVAC: Zoárd Mangel – Mangel Kft.
Electrical engineering: Ferenc Kelemen – Kelevill Bt.
Garden design: Zsuzsa Neumann – Dunapark Kft.