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New York-based Builtin Studio has helped a young family expand their Upper West Side apartment into the adjacent unit and create mid-century-influenced interiors that complement the historic details. More
Design studio General Assembly has used a wide material palette to transform an apartment on New York City’s Upper West Side, decorating it with marble and travertine stone and adding wood for a lighter feel.
The studio completely transformed the layout of the 3,050-square-foot (284 square metres) flat, which was designed for a young family.
Social spaces are located at the centre of the home”The floorplan has been completely reimagined,” General Assembly co-founder Sarah Zames told Dezeen.
“We moved all the walls and most of the plumbing in order to better accommodate the needs and lifestyle of the clients – we felt it was important to organize the spaces based on the way they used the space.”
A travertine side table contrasts a wooden table in the living roomOne side of the flat was designed to be quieter and family-focused and houses the bedrooms and family room, while social areas can be found at the centre of the apartment.
Guest spaces are contained in a third area, which was designed using warmer materials and has a more intimate scale.
The bedrooms are located on a “quieter” side of the flatLocated in an early 20th-century stone building by Italian-American architect Gaetano Ajello, the studio drew on the surrounding architecture when designing the apartment interior.
“We were inspired by the grandness of the New York pre-war building,” Zames said.
“We loved its deep columns and beams and wanted to work in a way that honored these kinds of details while balancing them with softer textures and quieter moments.”
The kitchen features a marble islandGeneral Assembly worked with many different materials for the apartment, whose walls are clad in Venetian plaster in a nod to the fact that it’s the material that would have been used for the original walls.
“We chose to finish many of the spaces with Venetian plaster because it created a subtle shadow and depth on the walls and ceilings,” Zames explained.
General Assembly upgrades apartment inside brutalist Manhattan tower
“We liked the way it reflected the natural and decorative lighting without overwhelming the space – the movement and texture of the wall is so minimal, that on first glance you may not realize that it is even plaster,” she added.
“But, as you watch the day progress, the light shifting becomes more apparent.”
Wood was used throughout the flatThe studio decorated the kitchen and bathrooms with dramatic marble surfaces and also placed a side table in solid travertine in the living room.
“We felt that stone, a material that lends itself to the nature of the pre-war building, was such a natural choice for this project,” Zames said.
“We wanted to emphasize its weight, designing voluminous pieces and detailing to emphasize these qualities.”
Brass and metal details add texture to the living roomTo contrast the stone, wood was used for much of the furniture and for the sliding doors leading into the kitchen.
“The wood was just as important in the design because it provided a counterpoint to the heaviness of the stone and the architecture of the building,” Zames said.
“Not only was the wood lighter in color, but the details in the wood finishes feel lighter to the touch and slightly more delicate.”
General Assembly added built-in features to the apartmentThroughout the flat, built-in shelves and cabinets maximise storage and reference the original design of the flat.
To create the right ambience within the apartment, General Assembly used earthy colours for the interior.
“We drew predominantly on earthy hues complimented by jewel-toned accents,” Zames said.
“We wanted to go with a comforting and quiet palette that evoked feelings of permanence. We always use natural and living materials in our projects, wherever possible – so many of these finishes will patina over time and add further to the depth of the design.”
Swirly marble clads one of the bathroomsPieces by independent designers were also used for the space to give it more character and personality.
“The clients were really open to bringing in more independent designers, many of whom we also carry at our shop, Assembly Line,” Zames said.
“That gave us the ability to do a lot of customization and freedom in how we designed and outfitted the space.”
General Assembly has previously updated an apartment inside a brutalist Manhattan tower and decorated a Bergen Street apartment with brass.
The photography is by William Jess Laird.
Project credits:
General contractor: ALL ConstructionStructural engineer: Jim Moore and AssociatesA/V and lighting: Fiks Consultants for AV and Lighting InfrastructureUpholstery & window treatments: Fernando Guaman for Custom Upholstery and Window treatments
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New York studio Messana O’Rorke has extended its collaboration with skincare brand Malin + Goetz by designing an apartment for its founders on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where special attention was paid to the bathrooms.
After creating store interiors for the brand across the US for several years, Messana O’Rorke turned its attention to a space for co-founders Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz to live in.
Messana O’Rorke renovated the apartment in a historic building on West 76th StreetThe apartment on West 76th Street was fully renovated for the couple to reflect their passions for beauty and wellness, while embracing the building’s history.
“The space creates a gentle push and pull between the comfort of the past and the vigor of the present – embedded in the architectural details,” said Messana O’Rorke.
A mixture of contemporary and vintage furniture and artworks imbue the spaces with personalityThese details include a traditional baseboard that encircles the main living spaces but ends abruptly in the central vestibule, where it is replaced with a quarter-inch (0.6-centimetre) shadow gap between the walls and floor for a more modern look.
Reclaimed oak parquet flooring is laid in a herringbone pattern throughout most of the rooms, providing the air of a European pied-à-terre.
Light materials were used for surfaces in the narrow kitchenA simplified version of a plaster relief detail – found during the demolition of a dropped ceiling in the bedroom – also wraps the wall and ceiling junctions, suggestive of crown moulding.
While these details all tie the living spaces together, it’s in the bathrooms that Messana O’Rorke has made the most dramatic interventions.
In the two bathrooms, Carrera marble lines the walls, floors and showers”Given that the homeowners are the founding partners of Malin + Goetz, Messana O’Rorke paid particular attention to the design of the two bathrooms, which reflect the beauty brand’s ethos as a modern apothecary,” said the studio.
Unlacquered brass fixtures and hardware are installed against Carrera marble, which clads the walls, floors and showers to create a “spa-like” feeling.
A hidden light strip appears to wash the stone in the shower with daylightIn one bathroom, mirrors surround a window above the sink, where more brass is used to line the recess and forms a trim around the perimeter.
A shower is illuminated from a hidden pocket in the ceiling, giving the illusion that the stone wall is washed with daylight.
Messana O’Rorke uses wood, marble and concrete for Malin+Goetz’s US stores
The same marble is continued in the narrow kitchen as countertops and backsplash, keeping the space light in tandem with white cabinets and stainless steel appliances.
Furniture is a blend of contemporary and vintage, mixing dark woods with sofas in muted velvet upholstery.
Unlacquered brass is used for fixtures and to line a window recessA variety of artworks decorate the living room and den walls, while a large collection of books fills shelves in the office – both providing more colour and personality to the apartment.
“Much like the Malin + Goetz boutiques the firm had previously designed, a single vintage display element subtly offsets the taut architectural envelope; the furnishings and interior appointments bridge the traditional and the modern,” Messana O’Rorke said.
Herringbone patterned parquet was laid through the living spacesThe studio was founded in 1996 by Brian Messana and Toby O’Rorke, and has previously renovated an 18th-century home in Upstate New York.
Renovations on the Upper West Side completed by other studios include a residence by Stadt Architecture where existing brickwork walls were paired with walnut floors and a 1920s apartment overhauled with custom millwork by Format Architecture Office.
The photography is by Stephen Kent Johnson.
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New York practice Format Architecture Office has reorganised a 1920s apartment with custom millwork in the city’s Upper West Side.The renovated apartment by Format Architecture Office is in a Gothic Revival building on Riverside Drive, giving the project its name, Riverside Apartment.
Completed before the second world war, the original apartment building had large residences that were later converted into smaller homes, which the studio said formed “a series of unconventional layouts”.
“The building was originally constructed in 1926 and arranged around opulently scaled residences with multiple bedrooms and gallery spaces,” Format Architecture Office added.
“It was converted to cooperative ownership in 1968, which created a large variety of accessible unit types, but also a series of unconventional layouts, as formerly single apartments were subdivided into two or even three different units,” it said.
The renovation reorganised the existing one-bedroom unit to include another bedroom that doubles as an office, as well as a powder room and a reorganised galley-style kitchen. The decor was updated with custom cabinets and enlarged wood-clad corridors across the 1,000-square-foot (92-square-metre) space.
“The primary goals for the project were to create flexible connections between spaces, enhance access to natural light and maximise storage,” the studio continued.
Upon entering is a foyer with a coat closet, and a cabinet with a glass portion above that pulls natural light in from windows in a home office. A bedroom adjacent is complete with an ensuite and walk-in closet.
A sliding wood door separates the office from a living and dining room. The pocket door is in one of the home’s corridors, which are intended to mark different areas.
“Large thresholds between public spaces celebrate transitions and become extensions of different wood-clad storage solutions that complement the myriad needs of a small domestic space,” said the studio.
All of the millwork at Riverside Apartment, including the corridors and custom cabinets, are made from Anigre wood – an African hardwood commonly used for furniture and cabinetry.
Other corridors are in the entry and kitchen, while built-in bookshelves are prominent in the living room and office.
Format Architecture Office imbues Manhattan office with “boutique sensibility” and cafe seating
Contemporary details are accompanied by the apartment’s existing elements, like original wood-panelled doors with the glass transoms.
Format Architecture Office aimed to emulate the early 20th-century style through other details to create “a mixture of clean lines and pre-war inspired details to celebrate the eclectic tastes of its owner”.
The glass wall in the entry is a reinterpretation of existing glazing, which bring light through the home. Another ribbed glass detail partially conceals the dining room from the kitchen.
A wood table, 1950s Eames Wire Chairs and a minimal white light fixture furnish the dining room, while the living room has a blue sofa and an Eames moulded plywood lounge chair from the second world war.
Off-white walls are paired with white moulding and new oak flooring for a pared-down aesthetic, while an orange-painted front door adds another pop of colour that complements teal accents.
Format Architecture Office founded in 2017 by architects Andrew McGee and Matthew Hettler, who met as undergraduates at the University of Michigan. The studio is based in Brooklyn and has also designed an office for a tech company in New York’s Midtown area with cafe-style seating and muted interiors.
Other renovated homes in the Upper West Side are an apartment with a built-in bed by Stadt Architecture and a townhouse by Space4Architecture with a white spiral staircase.
Photography is by Nick Glimenakis.
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New York firm New Practice Studio chose red brickwork as the main material for this Chinese noodle bar in the city’s Upper West Side to reference Beijing’s hutongs. The local architecture practice designed the interiors for The Tang – which serves up dishes from Sichuan, Hunan, and Beijing – around a fusion of East and […] More
