The balance between stable and dynamic spaces is expressed by asymmetrical plan and sectional manipulations that counterpoint yet reengage the orthogonal exterior window walls. The space appears to have been carved rather than assembled, juxtaposing a sense of density with openness and light.Architect-designed objects collected over time, allude to the historical design preferences and serve as reference points in the object/space dynamic of the parti. The material palette reinforces the programmatic and volumetric manipulation, adding to the sense of collage while supporting the hierarchical articulation of details.

This apartment is both a summary of discoveries made in earlier projects and a speculation on new ideas. It represents a watershed moment in this sequence of investigations.

The programmatic mandate to evoke an English club, made wood-paneling obligatory. The paneling, a modern reinterpretation, strongly influenced by the Secessionist period, establishes the primary materiality and graphic for the apartment. Space and object are simultaneous and interchangeable, mutually reinforcing and dense.

A perceptual and literal layering of space is created by the carving from a solid to a void and defined by the articulated, inlaid, and modulated steamed beech and cherry wood paneling. The spaces are at once similar yet varied, dense yet open, articulate yet calm.

The skylit/laylight gallery is the referential, defining space, connecting and accessing, visually and literally, all the spaces in the apartment. It represents the transformation of “hall,” hierarchical and modulated over its length by the varying intersections and transitions.

This apartment was a unique design opportunity which resulted in a resolution that would otherwise never have come to without the client’s mandate. It was provocative and inventive.

The program specified a library and private office suite, living space, formal dining space, kitchen/dining/family room, exercise space and spa, master bedroom suite, three guest bedroom suites, a sculpture terrace and gallery. The entry floor is organized around a modulating circulation/gallery space separating the double-height living volumes, with their views, from the service spaces and building cores. The entry gallery, accessed from the north elevator lobby adjacent to the two-bedroom guest pavilion, opens to the sculpture terrace and extends the circulation procession to the family spaces which are revealed sequentially.

The second level, accessed by two stairs, one from the living and the other from the family room, accommodates the master bedroom suite, with its balcony terrace overlooking the city and river, and a guest bedroom suite, with a balcony sitting area over the library. The counterpoint between wall and glass, solid and void, establishes a dynamic and hierarchal layering of space which is simultaneously enriched and reinforced by the integration of the art collection into the architecture.

Three exposed, round columns support the expressed, pre-existing beamed ceiling which acts as a “parasol” over the new plan and section.

The limestone floor, cabinets and bathroom walls are rotated from the orthogonal plan, reinforcing the object/frame strategy. The cabinets that enclose the study and the dressing rooms are capped with glass clerestory windows and float below the ceiling, ensuring privacy while maintaining spatial continuity.

The undulating fireplace wall is “carved-away,” revealing depth, and a sense of density. The fireplace is treated as both a traditional object—a central figure in the apartment—and a modern one, a sculptural juxtaposition with a manipulated wall surface.

The materials are limestone; maple and carpeted floors; integrally colored veneer plaster and back-painted glass walls; perforated stainless steel and; pearwood cabinets with granite, limestone and onyx tops.

This spatial intervention is accomplished by the insertion of usable poché—built-in cabinets and furniture—and reinforced by layers of wood frames and curtains on the window walls, which create multiple planes of transparency, translucency, and opacity along the perimeter.

The spatial sequence is a continuous unfolding of interconnected public spaces from the entry gallery-bar/study, kitchen, and living/dining. The private domain, consisting of two bedroom suites, is located off the entry gallery to the east and distinguished by the introduction of local symmetry.

The materials in this apartment-oak and marble floors, ash paneling and cabinetwork, oak doors and trim, and plaster ceiling—are deployed in a system of layers, in both plan and section. This apartment explores the enriched palette, initiated in Geffen, as a further articulation of spatial coding.

A line of existing columns, 18 feet from the south façade, articulates the main circulation gallery. A second circulation zone, visual and actual, parallel to and along the south window wall, accesses more private spaces – study, master bedroom suite and master bath – through a sequence of thick wall niches that accommodate sliding steel and patterned glass doors for privacy.

The ceiling height to the underside of the slab is 9’10” Existing beams form a second ceiling layer and are the primary referential horizontal graphic through the entire space. Three ceiling/wall heights below the beams establish datums for primary and secondary walls, which do not engage the ceiling, but float below exaggerating the illusion of a higher space. These varying ceiling heights afford opportunities to conceal ambient indirect lighting, as well as air-conditioning ducts and grilles, and preserve the overall spatial continuity.

The loft is a three-dimensional reinterpretation of a Mondrian; it is an architecture that is at once articulate, graphic, sublime, and calm. It is a space conceived as an “excavation,” a carving away that results in an essentialness that is inherently sculptural – light filled, dense and sequential, where nothing is added or redundant.

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A binuclear plan, anchored by the entry gallery, created two zones—public and private. The living/dining space, separated by a floating cabinet, extends the gallery to the south. The widened circulation space/playroom extends the entry to the north and accesses the master bedroom and library suite, the three children’s rooms, the kitchen, the breakfast room, and staff bedrooms.

Changes in ceiling height, variations in floor materials, built-in cabinetwork, and the use of color and mirrors, add a complexity and sense of spatial transformation that was an elaboration of previous explorations.

The architecture became less primary, acting more as a background to the furniture and artwork. Revisiting this apartment allowed us to evaluate an earlier period of work and refine it in response to a new and more specific set of issues. The primary new element—an abstracted portico, engaging two existing columns—marks the transition from the entry gallery to the living/dining space.

The most important design gesture was to vary the ceiling heights, creating plaster canopies and sloping and curving sections, as well as angling many of the plaster walls around the perimeter of the apartment. Custom cabinetry has been designed, some in deep cherry and other sections in a light steamed beech. Gridded paneling in beech covers entire walls, with cherry reserved for smaller pieces that, while built-in, are more like furniture.

Brand new spaces include a kitchen and dining area in the place of the old kitchen and a small bath; and a study/guest bedroom where a second bedroom used to be. The floors are mostly cherry, except for the entrance hall, the kitchen and the baths, which are of gray Swiss sandstone. In part of the living area, the floor is a pale maple to emphasize the sense of lightness and openness to the park and skyline views.

The entire apartment is designed in a classically formal style that is hospitable to a variety of early twentieth century furniture. They are upholstered in textured fabrics that give the spaces an additional layer of interest.