Kapás Street apartment building
Urban environment
Kapás 21 was developed on one of the last undeveloped plots in Inner Buda, in the northern part of Víziváros, at the foot of Rózsadomb. The dense urban setting presented a particularly complex challenge, as the new building had to integrate into a context of neighbouring buildings of varying ages, architectural character, and heights.
Integration
One of the fundamental considerations in the design was to adapt the scale of the building to the surrounding built environment. The lower five floors form a unified volume with a façade height of 18 metres, while the recessed, terraced upper levels gradually respond to the varying building heights of the surrounding context. In this way, the building does not appear as an isolated object, but rather as a complex volume that integrates into and responds to the surrounding urban fabric.
ground floor plan
2nd floor plan
5th floor plan
Spatial organization
The ground-floor arcade opens onto retail units, activating the street frontage and creating a direct connection between the building and the urban environment.
The apartments within the residential building feature a variety of floor plan configurations, responding to the specific conditions of the urban context. On the upper levels, the recessed volumes are complemented by terraces, providing outdoor living spaces as natural extensions of the apartments. Large glazed surfaces establish a strong connection between the interior spaces and the terraces, while the orientation and openings of the apartments take full advantage of the surrounding urban views.
Façade design
The character of the façade is defined by the bonded brick cladding of the lower volume, referencing the distinctive brick architecture of Víziváros. The recessed upper volumes are clad in contrasting expanded metal panels, complemented by anthracite-coloured glass inserts.
The combination of different materials and the stepped-back massing gives the building a coherent yet layered appearance, while establishing a strong connection with the character of its surroundings. The brick cladding in particular enables the new building to relate to the architectural tradition of Víziváros.
