Principal Architect: Lilian H. Weinreich AIA / L.H. Weinreich Architects
Project: Noho Duplex
Team: David L. Hendershot, AIA/ L.H. Weinreich Architects
Millworker: Adam Waszescik/ CPQ Custom Interiors, LLC
General Contractor: Mai Min J (MJ) / Great Will 88 Contracting Inc.
Structural Engineer: Phillip Couvillion/ Blue Sky Design
A/V Consultant: Marcus Ulrich/ Cloud 9 Smarthome, NY
Photographer © Francis Dzikowski
This 1,500sf duplex gut renovation in Noho, New York was designed as a first home to showcase a young couple’s casual lifestyle and expanding family. The program called for a family residence with an open, flowing interior on two levels.
The kitchen, dining, and lounge spaces flow seamlessly into the private areas. At the upperlevel rear, the guest/powder room and compact master bed/bathroom suite are separated by a series of 11-foot high, sliding, and fully retractable, glass, and steel-framed door-panels. These featured full-height elements create a spatial elongation, while forming an illusionary vista to an ostensibly larger space beyond. The folded glass and metal screen at the entry cleverly shields the apartment from the street.
The biggest single challenge was in the design and fabrication of the staircase. The stair was required to be both code and child safety compliant. Unique features include the coplanar clear-tempered glass-rails and the child-proof open slots under the welded bent steel angles. Supported by a sizable post concealed in the wall behind the stair – attachment is made with moment connections. All metalwork was site-fabricated forging a unique handcrafted industrial product – difficult to shop replicate.
On the lower level, the use of pocketed sliding doors met an imperative client requirement. It allowed the childrens’ bedroom/playroom to be a flexible space – subdivided for sleep and open for play. Additional sliding glazed doors facilitate the deep penetration of natural indirect daylighting from the windows into the family area.
The lighting scheme designed to enhance the spatial qualities, found an innovative solution at the transition between ceiling heights. On the upper-level, lit-cove edges are ghosted behind tall glazed units. These occur at openings to bathrooms with lowered ceilings without reducing door-panel heights. Backlit dropped-ceilings in the masterbath, and family area further heighten the space while giving the interiors a warm glow.
Simplicity in design and uniqueness in resolution are salient to this Noho duplex alteration.
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