Unstudio has designed a loft in downtown Manhattan mediating between art gallery and living space for a well renowned art collector. The existing loft space was characterized by challenging proportions: a long and wide space that also was rather low. The architects added gently flowing curved walls to virtually divide the main space into proportionally balanced spaces. This created zones of comfortable proportions for domestic use, while simultaneously generating a large amount of wall space for the display of art. The meandering walls frame an open a space that privileges long perspectives, with more sheltered corners and niches nestled in the curves. In this hybrid space exhibition areas merge into the living areas; a floating exhibition wall blends into library shelves on one side and into a display case on the other side.
While the walls form a calm and controlled backdrop for the works of art, the ceiling is more articulated in its expression of this transition. By interchanging luminous and opaque, the ceiling creates a field of ambient and local lighting conditions, forming an organizational element in the exhibition and the living areas. The opaque part of the ceiling consists of subtly arched elements that give a notion of an limitless ceiling which disguises the real height of the space, whilst the luminous part of the ceiling is backlit by 18,000 led lights. The extensive membrane of light serves multiple purposes; it balances the proportions of the loft by creating an illusion of height, functions as unobtrusive space divider, and can be programmed to illuminate the space with various shades of light, from the coolest, most neutral daylight, to warmer tones. By interchanging between luminous and opaque, the ceiling becomes a field of ambient and local lighting conditions.
The third element that the architect has added to this mix is the appreciation of the city which is expressed in the 'framing of the views'. The former windows in the South wall have been replaced by full floor to ceiling glass panes that frame and extend compelling views, over a full glass balcony, toward downtown Manhattan.
www.unstudio.com
