To organize a loft spanning an entire floor of a former industrial building in New York’s Flatiron District, a previous owner had divided it into rear bedrooms, core kitchen and utility rooms, and a large front space where occupants access side-by-side passenger and service elevators. Our client, a couple deeply connected to the contemporary art world, needed to reconfigure the apartment to better serve their growing collections of art and books and create unique accommodations for their transforming family.
The primary purpose of the redesign was to maintain the front’s open feeling while also articulating distinct areas for entry, dining, socializing, and audiovisual entertainment. Major elements requested included vestibules for the passenger and service elevators, as well as a separate bedroom suite for a soon to be adolescent daughter.
Working within the loft’s column grid and using furnishings for further definition, we created zones of common use within the front space and tied them together by a Library Wall. Essentially, a line of new cabinetry¬ spanning from the front windows to the passenger elevator, the Library Wall integrates doors to the new entry vestibule and bedroom suite, audiovisual equipment, and book shelves. As a hybrid architectural solution, the wall alternates between focal point and backdrop, and it simultaneously divides spaces that require separation and connects spaces that need correlation.
This project further encompassed the existing bath and utility rooms. Making use of the ceiling height, we relocated mechanical equipment above the laundry room, creating a lounge area for the two rear bedrooms from recovered space. By reconfiguring the entrance to the master suite to include a small vestibule with office uses, as well, we enhanced the privacy buffer for sleeping. The two new interstitial spaces create more harmonious proportions in the rear hallway and provide exclusive display opportunities for artwork.
With a new building rising on a neighboring lot to the west, the kitchen and master bath were poised to lose access to natural light previously provided by lot-line windows. In redesigning these spaces, we paid particular attention to materials and accent lighting that would create luminous surfaces, in turn.