When the 12-person Manhattan architecture firm, Michael Neumann Architecture, had outgrown its office, a converted two-bedroom apartment, they sought a new space with more room that was close to public transportation and provided natural light and fresh air.
The mere thought of a high-profile architect designing a shop for a well-known fashion designer raises the old question: Will the container dominate the contained—i.e., the clothes?
This 1920s industrial loft adjacent to the elevated High Line pedestrian park has been transformed into a space for living, entertaining, and displaying of contemporary art.
Two distinct volumes clad in concrete, masonry, and glass differentiate public space from private space in this steel-framed residence; both offer views of the surrounding river and mountains.
With a new structure, the architects responded to their client’s passion for barns by incorporating into the design traditional qualities of barns—generous spaces, repetitive timber frame—while creating a complex interior for modern living.
When William Pedersen, FAIA, cofounder and principal design partner of Kohn Pedersen Fox, bought a 3-acre piece of waterfront land on Shelter Island, New York, in 1981, “Things were a little different on the island,” he wryly recalls.
