Bank Street Apartment
New York, New York
This is a home where cerebral architectural clarity and a sense of giddy discovery co-exist in the same space, each the happier for the other. We merged two apartments to create this Greenwich Village residence for a couple and their young twins. The anatomy of the space is formed by a series of discrete blocks that separate the public and private spheres while defining the borders of particular rooms and the pathways through which those rooms are traversed. New spaces and new experiences are unveiled as one moves around or through the individually articulated masses. Wall-mounted fluorescent tubes—an homage to minimalist maestro Dan Flavin—are installed at various junctures in the circulation route, providing luminous guideposts for the journey.
The fluorescent tubes are part of a lighting program designed to animate and delineate specific architectural volumes and surfaces. In the primary bath, for example, the mirror seems to float on a cushion of light. In the workspace hidden behind the dining table, light cascades down the walnut wall—a warm juxtaposition to the apartment’s cool white planes—and gently illuminates the desk surface. Secret passageways, including a child-sized door connecting the twins’ rooms, add an element of fun and adventure for the kids as they navigate the apartment. In effect, the architectural blocks become oversized toy blocks in a setting at once polished and playful.