On the road again

Cindy Allen -- Interior Design, 10/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

With the kids safely back in school—and safely out of the house—October is the perfect month to survey and enjoy great residential work, along with a few contract installations yummy enough to live in. And so we did. Following the example of Woody Guthrie, we ventured from California to the New York island and found that this land, now more that ever, was made for (and by) those engaged with alacrity in redesigns and reinventions. The reinterpretation of space is the common denominator in our stories this month, and we make a pretty good case for it, from coast to coast.

Paddling along the canals of Venice, California, we found Holger Schubert's rejuvenated 1980s residence. Deep in the Texas Hill Country, we landed at an airplane hangar by Jim Luigs, who—talk about reinvention—started as a playwright. We also made the ascent to an impeccable New York penthouse loft reconfigured by Aardvarchitecture, then suffered the unholy Hamptons commute to join architect Robin Elmslie Oslers's "industrial" revolution. Finally, we got to the real heart of things at 200 Lexington, where Yabu Pushelberg has designed a new showroom for Keilhauer.

To top off this tour de force, how about a special section on hospitality design? Hank Koning and Julie Eizenberg's second Standard hotel and Kelly Wearstler's Viceroy, both in L.A., clearly put these designers in a league of their own. This Yankee, however, was completely captivated by a British team: De Matos Storey Ryan, whose Cowley Manor hotel-spa occupies an Italianate mansion amid picture-book Cotswolds scenery.