East 22nd Street Loft No. 01
New York, New York
Making the most of a compact New York City apartment is not unlike like solving a jigsaw puzzle—precise configuration and adjacencies are imperative for all the pieces to fit together perfectly. Almost immediately after we finished renovating a small one-bedroom in an erstwhile factory building in the Flatiron district, our clients acquired the studio apartment next door and asked us to create a revised scheme for a conjoined apartment. In the first renovation, we installed a storage container that bisects half the apartment and creates a pathway from the entry to the open living/dining zone, with the kitchen and bath on one side, and a bedroom niche tucked on the other side of the block. The social arena of the living/dining room was positioned to benefit from natural light pouring in through four massive street-facing windows.
In the revised plan, the studio apartment was converted entirely into a generous primary bedroom suite. The wall that once separated the units is now a massive floor-to-ceiling screen of frosted glass set into a brass frame, with sliding doors that connect the reconfigured living/dining room with the bedroom, which boasts three large windows of its own along the same elevation. The kitchen remains fixed in its original location, as does the first bath, which now serves guests. The original bedroom niche became a den, accessed through a sliding door that echoes the structure and materials of the new divider screen. The defining feature of the living/dining zone—a huge, floating bookcase of brass-framed oak that hovers above the floor and below the ceiling—was transposed from its first location on the demolished party wall to the opposite elevation.
The new primary bath is clad almost entirely in Italian travertine, including a custom vanity crowned with a floating mirror that conceals integrated medicine cabinets. A wall of closets made of fumed, wire-brushed European oak complements the rich brown tones of the stonework. Throughout the apartment, the variations in materials and the subtle architectural divisions work together to nurture a sense of unfolding spaces ripe for discovery—an antidote to the typical loft experience of one big reveal.
Awards
2020
Award of Merit, Society of American Registered Architects, New York Council
2019
Award of Merit Society of American Registered Architects, National Design Awards
Honoree for Small Apartment, Interior Design Magazine’s NYCxDESIGN