American studio Lot-Ek has used brightly painted, metal cargo containers to create a vertical enclosure and a rooftop penthouse for an urban residence owned by a creative couple in New York.

The Irving Place Carriage House is situated on a leafy street in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighbourhood. An artist and gallery owner, and their daughter live in the residence, which dates to the 1930s and is surrounded by low-scale, brick buildings.

Lot-Ek, a New York-based studio, was hired to revamp the two-storey home and to add a penthouse structure on the roof. The firm is well known for using shipping containers to create a range of projects, from pop-up shops to residential buildings.

For the New York carriage house, diagonal black and grey stripes were painted onto the facades. An original garage door and stepped roofline were retained, adding to the home's distinctive appearance.
Within the brick-walled dwelling, the architects inserted a bright orange, vertical volume that serves as an organising device. On the ground level, it separates the foyer and mudroom in the front of the home from the living area in the rear. On the second floor, it acts as a partition between the master bedroom and child's area.

The vertical enclosure, which is partly made of shipping containers, also has a programmatic purpose. The stairwell, kitchen and bathrooms, along with mechanical equipment, are all housed within the central structure.

"The space is organised through the insertion o...