Garden-Level Apartment, Chelsea Home, Manhattan Real Estate Regeneration, New York City Architecture Photos
Garden-Level Apartment in Chelsea
Jun 13, 2022
Design: Martin Hopp Architect
Location: Chelsea, Manhattan, NYC, USA

Photos: Fei Liu
Garden-Level Apartment, NYC
Located in a 1930s building, this Garden-Level Apartment needed major structural repairs. Its odd layout and challenging features of exposed foundation walls and large structural columns were further complicated by being partially submerged below grade and hemmed in by foundations. This gave the apartment a subterranean feel that only allowed for brief moments of natural daylight. The renovation aimed to introduce more lightness, joy, and purpose into this unremarkable space.
The new apartment uses a flexible targeted design, elevates simple materials, and carefully-proportioned spaces to raise the residents’ quality of life. Extensive custom, locally-built millwork such as folding and pivoting doors, a rotating table, counter-balanced spring mechanisms, and multiple forms of storage make up a series of high-quality micro-elements that can adapt to the needs of its changing users.

A refined palette of white materials and white oak panelling create a sense of brightness, warmth, and comfort in the home. White lacquer, fabric, terrazzo, stone, matte paint, and metal panels were all used to create a variety of textures within the white palette. The wood panelling is finished as minimally as possible, usin...