Restoration of an Apartment in Hungary. Classical elegance for the medieval Guest House

In the medieval old town of the Hungarian city of Kőszeg, the architect Béres is carrying out the renovation of an apartment located inside a 400-year-old historic building where much of the value of the real estate was hidden or damaged by renovation work in the 1980s

The medieval old town of Kőszeg is famous for its charming atmosphere. The information about the former property dates back to the second half of 1500. The house had been built right on top of the outer wall of the moat. Some parts of this structure are still visible and exposed outside the building. A small cellar and rooms on the upper floor were added to the house sometime before 1684. In the 18th century, the Niczky family bought the property and rented the small apartment in front of the castle for artists and traveling merchants

The main objective of the renovation is to transform the unit again into a guest house. To recreate the lightness and elegance of a hotel suite or a guest house, a relatively open floor is created. Clean, linear spaces are created that reflect and highlight the history of the environment through simple, non-invasive solutions

The layout of the spaces inside the apartment is rather unusual. Most of the basement opens towards the small private garden that acts as a filtering space between inside and outside combining various functions for all four seasons: as a cellar, relaxation area, sauna and storage

Upon arrival, the visitors can immediately observe the ancient walls and the heavy vaults that tell the story of the house and the castle quarter. The upper floor consists of 3 main spaces. Framed by the casing of the exterior walls, the apartment is divided into a living room-bedroom, a kitchen-dining room and a bathroom. There are no partition walls or interior doors to separate these spaces. The visible connections between the rooms and even the exterior create a sort of classic elegance

Although the apartment is located at the northern end of the building, it has windows in three different directions. The surrounding national monuments, churches and fortification walls reflect light into the rooms in unexpected and interesting ways. Each layer of the ancient stone walls, now completely restored, tells a story of the past

Most of the new surfaces are white and simple. The oiled larch panels in the flooring become a decorative element of the built-in furniture. The boundaries are between old and new parts are clear but not too narrow