Valley Apartment

Set on the ground floor of an Upper East Side townhouse, this 1600 square foot apartment carried the traits of multiple previous renovations and expansions that merged into an illegible, cumbersome space. After stripping the space of all of its decorative elements, our primary intervention was the addition of a 'catwalk' bridge connecting the two sides of the apartment to form one continuous top floor. The staircase leading down to the lower floor was re-oriented as well, allowing the addition of a sunken library and study area.

The project's material palette relies on its indoor-outdoor connection, which is so rare to find in New York. The space's new minimal palette anchors it in relation to the modernist courtyard apartment typology studied by Johnson, Rudolph, and Durrell Stone.