Architects: Studio Modh Architecture
Project: Warehouse Loft
Location: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Area: 186 sqm
Photography: Devon Banks Photography
Situated within a landmark former industrial building, this warehouse loft project combines two previously renovated apartments into one new home for a young, growing family. With complex lives that require flexible live and work space, the design re-balances the spatial distribution to emphasize a grand, communal area while minimizing the sleeping spaces. Natural light filters across large wall planes in the nearly 13′ tall spaces providing ample wall space for the owner’s art works and to reflect light softly.
Using reclaimed, fifty year old white cedar from water towers in Sunset Brooklyn, custom millwork pieces were designed to introduce a warm flash of color at a generous bench in the entry foyer, a screen wall that masks a small work space, and a twenty four foot long desk. The wood has two faces: a purple-gray side once exposed to the water within the tower and a vibrant yellow side that had previously faced out toward the atmosphere.
The architects used a dark tint to disguise the fact that the floors — a combination of existing and new — are a mix of maple, walnut and oak strips. A simple screen of vertical slats serves as a space divider between the entry hall and an area with a long work table. Both screen and table were made of the same reclaimed water-tower wood. Select details of the building’s original structure are revealed by pulling away ceilings to express the old beams and by exposing the original cast iron columns, encased in a thin, fireproof paint.
