Any home remodel in New York City that involves adjusting partitions or plumbing requires a work permit from the Department of Buildings (DOB). Although the rules aren’t always observed, upstanding architects and contractors spend a great deal of time chasing these permits. I worked with a couple who are remodeling their bathrooms and I’m shocked […]
MoMA‘s new kitchen design exhibit “Counter Space” puts dozens of everyday kitchen accessories and furnishings on display. Some are entirely familiar (a soy sauce bottle, Tupperware tumblers, a brown paper bag), and seeing them sitting inside vitrines makes one appreciate how lovely they are. Other, more unusual objects (a cork-covered serving bowl, a glass-handled frying […]
Another sterile white-walled gallery filled with sterile contemporary art, right? These paintings and sculptures are actually construction debris, pieces of furniture, carpet, wood flooring and stone tile removed from demolition sites. The exhibit, called “Usus/Usures”, is Belgium’s entry at the Architecture Exhibit at this year’s Venice Biennale, a kind of architecture Olympics that brings together […]
After my remodel was complete my mother gave me a set of white dishes as a kitchen-warming gift. It’s a simple style called, evocatively, “Italian Countryside.” It’s heavier than traditional china, which is good because I bang things around a bit. And it can look traditional or modern, “Italian Countryside” or “English Manor House,” depending […]
One of the delights of internet searches is that they often lead you to things you didn’t even know you cared about. While researching gas ranges the other day I stumbled across this image of a “compact kitchen,” a single, 30″-wide appliance that contains a range, refrigerator and sink. As an architect I pine for […]
I’m so attached to the pedestal sink in my bathroom that I was a bit surprised when a client I’m working with requested a wood vanity cabinet for his bathroom. Why would someone want a vanity? The most obvious reason is that vanities provide storage that we all need, especially in small New York City […]
I’ve just started working on an apartment remodel in Kips Bay Towers, a complex on East 30th Street built in 1960 by I. M. Pei. These are two immense, slab-like towers with concrete frames and distinctive rounded window openings that set them apart from typical white brick modern buildings in Manhattan. They’re designed in a […]
An apartment I’m remodeling has large mirror panels on one of the living room walls. The mirrors cover the entire surface of the 12-foot-wide wall and are trimmed with a narrow aluminum angle. These mirrors do a fantastic job of bouncing light around \ and enlarging the sense of space, but they have an early […]
I am not a tree-hugger. I like the idea of nature, but I like it best when witnessed from the confines of a lovely glass box. Nonetheless I’m studying for the LEED accreditation exam, which demonstrates leadership in the design and construction of buildings that promote energy-efficiency and resource conservation. The exam covers a lot […]
After living in New York City for fifteen years I’ve become a big fan of apartment living. It’s sensible and ecologically sound. We accumulate fewer things, leave a reduced footprint, and free up space around us for parks and plazas. Yet my Dream Home has always been a wood frame house. This might be a […]
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