1Aharoni-PB
Police Building Pied à Terre
In a gut renovation of a one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath apartment in The Police Building, a 1909 Beaux-Arts structure at the southeastern edge of SoHo, the generic 1980s’ residential renovation was stripped away to realign the original interior planes, sharpen angular harmonies and maximize horizontal and vertical volumes.
Spatial proportions are amplified with color opposition via the juxtaposition of dark and light. Ebonized oak floors on the first floor and the mezzanine level form dark planes at the primary and mid-level strata. White walls and stairwell facings expand the space on the intermediary plane. A carved white ceiling with lighting coves forms a floating white monolith and creates a complementary visual infinity with the dark floors below. The chromatic layering schematic is rearticulated in the kitchen and then echoed in the powder room with black and white wallpaper.
A series of articulated “L” shapes—bookcases around the base of living room, the kitchen counters and shelves, an entry archway, a glass walled stair railing and the footprint of the mezzanine—embed structural continuity and horizontal/vertical flow into the space.
Photography by Ngoc Minh Ngo