The new design wipes clean the previous floor-plans to create a space focused on the idea of “Living in the Park” and “Sleeping in the City”. Rather than locate the kitchen toward the center of the floor, isolated from light, air, and view, the new plan positions it prominently along the park where the family wants to be and live during the day.

The floor plan opens up the northeastern facing corner with dramatic views of the park and fifth avenue. This creates a generous “Great Room” that houses a space for the enjoyment or art, music, living, and dining. In order to fully enjoy the vistas of the park, all of the windows are widened, some by as much as five feet to create a consistent set of openings that meet the scale and grandeur of the new room

The Kitchen is located off the main living space behind a carefully positioned hearth-like element that is designed as a four-sided storage unit that can also close off the kitchen from the living room when necessary thanks to a pair of nine foot tall sliding pocket doors. A white Calacatta Gold Marble specifically selected for its remarkable brushstroke like vein is a mural along one wall where the cooking and washing takes place. An abstract ornamental metal panel houses a re-circulating venthood.

Details are understated to reinforce the contrasting lines of lightness and darkness that permeates the entire home. Thick, blackened steel shelves are floated off the dies to reinforce their thinness in relation to the solidity of the stone. Finger pulls for drawers are cabinets are dark fumed oak. Receptacles and switches are minimal round devices flush with their adjacent surroundings.

The bathrooms are the only spaces without the natural drama of park views. In order to create an “interior landscape”, full height slabs of brilliantly colored granites are composed like large art frescos on one full wall of each bathroom. The dramatic slabs stand in contrast to the quiet subtlety of Bianca Namibia white marble from Northern Africa in a low-honed finish to reveal the materials naturally color and subtle depth. The bathrooms are designed with over-sized sliding, pocket doors that remain largely hidden from view to enable the spatial generosity of the bathrooms to enhance the bed chamber spaces. 

The dramatic green stone is deployed in a series of moments in the main bathroom, including a pair of wall niches, a screen wall for the toilet, and large mural like wall.

Another bathroom is tucked between a fire stair and an interior mechanical room. A pair of slabs create a vista of color and stratification that spans between the two walls, interrupted by a dark fumed oak access door.

Early digital renderings of powder rooms and bathrooms composed the palette of materials and details of vanities to maximize the spatial qualities of the rooms.

The spaces for sleeping and privacy are situated along the south side of the building facing midtown Manhattan. These spaces are acoustically isolated and designed as efficient cabinet-like spaces. Walk in closets wrap around structural columns and risers to utilize every available inch of space. Full height closets fill one full wall of each room and are detailed to reflect light and enhance the spatial volume of the rooms.

The apartment’s material palette is influenced by the calm beauty of the Park in winter - an interplay of white Venetian plaster and dark fumed oak framed by fine, blackened steel edges that echo the tree branches, ponds, and paths that stand in stark contrast to winter snow. The walls float gently above the white oak floors, and ceilings are designed to maximize ceiling height while delivering a soft day-light colored illumination via light shelves.

Photography by Eric Petschek

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