This 4,500 square foot new residential loft is located on the second floor of a newly renovated six-story building on East 67th Street in Manhattan (the Kaimowitz loft shares the same building).

This living headquarters shares the function of a private art gallery prominent in size: 15 feet wide by 90 feet long, and located along the middle portion of the loft space. The rather eclectic impression of this broad central space is the result of an elegant dialectical exchange between modernism and reverence to the past as represented by the type of art displayed: Dutch and Italian late Renaissance paintings in addition to some sculptures of the same period and earlier.

The antique wood door surrounding, that marks the entrance to the study, works as a threshold between present and past, between innovation and permanence. These two worlds coexist in the client’s mind and here are represented. The interior of the study presents wood coffered ceilings, wood paneled walls and paintings.

The walled open area is the result of a rhythmical play of single planes, apparently suspended and graced by stone surroundings, separated by floor-to-ceiling gray glazed panels, some of them are actually doors that direct to the more private spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms or service rooms.

Special attention has been given to the spatial constraints of the pre-existing deep structural steel girders that rhythmically span the entire width of the loft space. One of the main technical tasks was to find the best solution for the location of the air ducts without compromising the open quality of the living spaces. A solution was found by packing the air ducts along the sides of the steel girders. The air outlets were to be located where the new ceilings meet the framed enclosure of the girders; a continuous slot run along such edges creating a succession of suspended ceilings, together with a measured and well crafted relationship to the framed portion of the glazing panels. This certainly contributes to the dialectical quality and to the overall well executed loft space.

The living room and dining room are at the opposite end of the elongated gallery space and the large strikingly contemporary chandeliers that spot these two areas mark their polarity and echo these spaces (the pictures shown here have been taken prior the installation of the chandeliers).