NYC PENTHOUSE

In cities around the country when people buy condominiums, particularly loft condominiums, they are thinking of them less as apartments and more as developable properties, like vacant land on the tenth floor. The challenge of the urban architect is to build a good home inside a building or buildings meant for a very different purpose. The Manhattan Penthouse is an example of this way of approaching existing buildings taken to an extreme.

The interior of the loft is populated by a series of round Barrel like "buildings" each housing a different living function. From a state of the art kitchen to a beautiful corner bedroom the highly refined rooms are insulated from the rough industrial character of the existing loft building with out obliterating it. However the development of this lower manhattan building goes beyond just the interior, by taking advantage of the roof rights accorded the top floor it was possible to develop the roof as well. The resulting roof garden is an oasis of green and calm in the center of one of the worlds busiest cities.