Share this on
In Focus
For a photographer-collector couple, Aardvarchitecture concentrates on a New York loft's inherent grandeur
Edie Cohen -- Interior Design, 10/1/2002 12:00:00 AM
|
Architect Lynnette Widder describes the design direction for the 3,000-square-foot New York penthouse with one concise phrase: "architectural archaeology." She and Christian Volkmann, partners in the humorously named Aardvarchitecture, worked with their clients, photographer Gail LeBoff and collector Michael Bradley, to uncover a spatial dignity that had been obscured by previous renovations. LeBoff is a photographer whose art reflects craft-intensive endeavors and stunning imagery. Pieces with varying degrees of abstraction are large scale, up to 46 inches square or more than 5 feet long in rectangular formats. Recalling Man Ray's solarized prints, the images also incorporate special color tones, digital technology, and her own printing manipulation. Having lived in the loft for 21 years, the last 10 of them married, she finally decided to renovate. Motivation was twofold. One factor was the need to store her husband's outstanding collection of CDs and vinyl records. The final push came as a result of extensive flood damage. Clients and architects, who met through referral, cited chemistry as the deal maker. LeBoff was intrigued by the professionals' shared domestic status and international background. (Widder is from New York, Volkmann from Hildesheim, Germany.) Rapport was heightened by mutual agreement to let the design develop at a leisurely pace. "It became like an art project for me," says LeBoff, who has exhibited worldwide and currently sells through Ralph Pucci International in New York and Pilar Graves Fine Art in Los Angeles. Irregularly configured with a back portion half as wide as the front, the loft encompasses two thirds of the 12th floor of one of SoHo's few high-rises. Not one of the area's coveted cast-iron structures, the concrete building is nevertheless distinguished by ornamental medallions and arched windows on three elevations of the couple's penthouse. Previous interventions had unfortunately rendered the interior a poster child for '80s clichés. Aardvarchitecture removed the water-damaged dropped ceiling, a curved glass-block wall, plastic-laminate cabinetry, and a surfeit of platforms and other dividers, leaving the living-dining-kitchen area's 60-foot length and window walls clear and uninterrupted. Widder and Volkmann then proceeded to position necessary dividers in a way that "would always let the perimeter read through," Widder explains. A few bold gestures, which distinguish public from private zones, create the crux of the plan. The entry, located where the wide and narrow portions of the space intersect, is marked by an ocher-stained box of solid-core doors in stationary and bi-fold configurations. Off to the right is Bradley's library-study. In front, a pair of splayed walls performs two functions: directing attention to the light-filled public zone and anchoring some of the private spaces. LeBoff's studio-darkroom is behind one partition, a home theater behind the other. In the narrow portion of the loft, the architects located the master suite. These broad spatial strokes, says Widder, "offer shifting long and short views as one moves through the apartment." Letting the clients fill in the blanks with possessions and purchases, the architects concentrated on materials, finishes, millwork, and details. The front area is defined by bleached maple flooring and a 55-foot-long run of bleached birch-plywood cabinetry, which extends from the living to the dining-kitchen area. At the living-area end, cabinetry designed to hold Bradley's music collection is installed below the windows, with larger drawers for LPs, smaller drawers for CDs. At the dining-kitchen end, the cabinetry rises to hold Fiestaware and Baccarat. Another point of architectural pride is the clerestory that lets daylight into LeBoff's studio; framed in cherry wood, transparent glass panes alternate with smaller cobalt blue. At the rear of the loft, tones are warmer. Flooring is mahogany-stained pine. Jerusalem Gold limestone clads the walls and floor of the master bath. In the bedroom, the bed is positioned centrally so that the 8-foot-tall oak headboad separates sleeping and dressing quarters. Furnishings balance rustic and polished sides of the design equation: an antique mahogany dining table from the Philippines and orange fabric-covered chairs by Bruno Fattorini, for example. Vintage (an Indonesian carved armoire) mixes with clearly contemporary (a Paul Mathieu daybed, Chris Lehrecke walnut chairs, Paola Lenti felt rugs). "One thing we couldn't stand was any discussion of what style the loft was going to be—minimalist, country, or traditional," says Widder. She and Volkmann may well refuse a "modern" appellation, but nothing could indicate a more modern attitude.
Want to see more? Subscribe! Click here for online special. |
 
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Share this on
Talkback
We would love your feedback!
Sponsored Links
VIEW ALL GALLERIES