Outdoor Connection

The residence is transformed by a relocated mezzanine where a sunken interior court with a retractable glass roof connects to the planted green roof garden above. This gesture of subtracting volume from the interior brings the outdoors into the primary living zones. The roof, peeled back, showers the spaces with natural light. When open, ample air flow enters what was once a poorly ventilated and dark loft. By night, the court acts as an internal lantern illuminating the loft below.

Historic Dialogue

Embracing the building’s industrial past, a visual discourse between new and old is devised through insertions of modern materials along with restored or reclaimed materials from the loft. A custom steel stair repurposes timbers from the old roof joists as treads and landings. The multiple level residence is unified by a walnut fascia that serves as a conceptual datum.

Embracing the building’s industrial past, a visual discourse between new and old is devised through insertions of modern materials along with restored or reclaimed materials from the loft. A custom steel stair repurposes timbers from the old roof joists as treads and landings. The multiple level residence is unified by a walnut fascia that serves as a conceptual datum.

A private elevator landing leads to a dramatic double height living and dining room. A massive skylight runs the width of this room. A marble fireplace, walls paneled in quarter sawn limed oak, wenge floors and exposed steel and stone create an ambience that is both monumental and warm.

The top of the line kitchen flows seamlessly from the living room and features Bulthaup cabinetry, double ovens, Subzero refrigerator and a 400 bottle walk in wine cellar.The library is luxurious and welcoming, with walls lined in exotic makore paneling, a fireplace and a gorgeous bar. Two bedrooms, each with en-suite bath, a laundry room and powder room complete this floor. A sky-lit staircase leads to a family room which overlooks the living room below.

A world apart, the master bedroom has its own dressing room, sitting room and private, south facing terrace. The master bath, with an intricate mosaic marble floor features radiant heating, a double steam shower, double sinks and tub.The third level provides access to a fully landscaped private roof top terrace, with a full kitchen. Additional features, too numerous to include here, make this home the ultimate in luxury, comfort and convenience.

 

The loft features a great mix of modern furnishing and raw brick walls, the wood-beam ceilings has beautiful sky lights built in. This top floor apartment is connected to a rooftop, where owners cultivate their garden and love to grow vegetables.

The main challenge of the design was to create flow between the two obviously separate East and West halves of the apartment, which were a result of combining the two buildings in the past. To open up the space between, a new wide arched opening was added in the demising brick wall, seamlessly integrated by proportionally mimicking style of the existing arches. A synonymous window was installed on the east wall to create maximum light exposure in the new “great room”. Care was taken to preserve the loftâ€s history as a warehouse, and later an artistâ€s studio by keeping and accentuating its inherent openness, large steel skylights, material textures and exposed structure. To accentuate the mass and presence of the exposed brick wall, the new stair was cantilevered off of this inherently structural element. The wall was extended up to the top of the stair bulkhead, clad with re-used brick recovered after demolishing part of the wall for the new arch. New skylight above stair now brings in more light, inviting to enjoy the new outdoor roof terrace and garden. The Kitchen and family Breakfast room were positioned in the most brightly lit part of the apartment with two large existing skylights, which flood the space with natural southeast light.

It was important to separate public from private, however instead of hallways and closed doors, large sliding “partitions” allow for uninterrupted flow throughout the day, with option to screen off the childrenâ€s†play area and family bedrooms. With 3 children and 2 dogs, it was critical to plan for ample storage throughout the apartment, custom built-in benches, credenzas and bookcases work well to keep clutter hidden while seamlessly integrating with surrounding finishes. In the childrenâ€s playroom a new lofted platform with ladders, trap doors and writable walls was designed for playing and storage, while child-friendly low ceiling spaces where they can explore, read and study under an existing skylight.

All of the new materials were selected to accentuate the authentic quality of the space enhancing with warm, rich natural finishes such as oiled old-growth walnut floors and cabinets, cold rolled steel stair and doors, earth tone tiles and bamboo counters. While the finishes feel high end, all of the tactile surfaces are child and pet friendly, durable and will develop in character as they age.

The entrance to the loft takes you into a long hallway, with a long row of columns. The floor is white oak, sanded, bleached, and stained gray. SchappacherWhite worked with lighting company O’Lampia to customize one of their sconces for the space. To the right is a sliding door, modeled after classic loft doors, built by Gunnar Design. “When you design a large open space, you look for ways to make it private as well,” says Schappacher.

I always put a dark wall in every project, they add so much depth to any room,

says Rhea White. The small guest room doubles as a playroom when the grandparents aren’t visiting from New Zealand; a Murphy bed is concealed behind the chalkboard wall. The white padded chair can be turned on its side and used as a bedside table. The built-in beneath the window is covered in an acoustical material from McMaster-Carr, which serves as a tack board for art projects.

The floating walnut headboard is by Marsia Holzer, who also supplied a bracket system for mounting the heavy headboard.

One thing that we really worked hard to do in the kitchen and with all the rest of the cabinetry is to frame them, so they became objects in themselves,

says Schappacher. “We didn’t want them to be big huge built-ins, in order to retain the open feeling of the loft.”

For the dining room fixture, the firm worked with Roll & Hill to modify one of its existing lights, which is now in production as the Modo Chandelier, Diamond, 13 Globes. The dining room and chairs are from Soho furniture company Desiron.