ARCHITECTURAL TRICKS
In the trapezoid-shaped loft, the angled wall shared by the study and guest room (next picture) “creates a false sense of perspective,” says architect Paul Cha. “It seems to go on and on.” Cha placed the communicating door between the rooms on the wall “because the best way to engage with an angled plane is to use it for circulation.” Transom-level windows create a two-story illusion.
ARCHITECTURAL TRICKS
HIGH/LOW
“The Swarovski crystal fixture hung over the table is the most precious thing in the space,” says Cha. “By contrast, the floor, instead of French limestone, is porcelain tile—one of the most economical materials you can find.” Philippe Starck chairs surround the ash-and-walnut table by interior designer Margaret Innerhofer.
LAYERS OF LIGHT
Daylight-simulating fluorescent bulbs inserted between two layers of window glazing mute exterior noise and increase illumination in the master bedroom. Margaret Innerhofer designed the quartersawn ash bed.
LAYERS OF LIGHT
In the master bath, the architect combined a teak tub surround, walnut cabinetry, and a custom limestone trough sink.
FREE FLOW
The living room bookshelves slip into the adjacent study, dissolving the rigid demarcation between the two spaces.
FREE FLOW
Margaret Innerhofer’s coffee table and other designs, says Cha, serve to blur the boundaries between cabinetry and furniture, by using the same materials and sensibility. Sofas by Antonio Cittero for B+B Italia.
of

high definition

Interior walls and windows reconfigure a trapezoidal loft on Union Square
Type: 
Architecture
Author name: 
PAUL CHA
Type: 
Text
Author name: 
MARC KRISTAL
Type: 
Produced By
Author name: 
ELIZABETH SVERBEYEFF BYRON
Type: 
Photography
Author name: 
PETER MARGONELLI

The woman, an educator, had moved with her family into the 2,500-square-foot raw space, in an 1860 commercial building, in the 1970s, when only the bold ventured into nearby Union Square and the prevailing loft
aesthetic was hippie-esque DIY. Thirty years on, change was essential. “You start with the physical,” she says, “and then work on the rest.”

Wanting “light and space and simple,” the woman recruited architect Paul Cha, who perceived the superlative space—with its 14-foot-high tin ceilings, cast-iron columns, and 10-by-4-foot windows—through a prismatic eye. “I wanted to engage people’s perceptions from different perspectives,” Cha says. Accordingly, he produced a design that’s decidedly multidimensional. In front, he covered much of one living room wall with a floor-to-ceiling bookcase—“so that your eye travels up but also back and forth”—and placed a small, unenclosed office several steps up, to create a midlevel view. Cha divided the loft’s midsection into public and private zones with a wall that is itself divided into a composition of six horizontal bands (two of them glass). On one side, he placed an open kitchen/dining area; he inserted a guest room and study on the other. In the rear, Cha raised the master bedroom and bath three feet, making the sleeping quarters feel less “like a well” and more enveloping.

“The client is very sensitive, not only to light and color, but to touch,” Cha explains. So he built the neutral-toned material palette largely out of maple and ash, limestone and porcelain, minimizing the cold and hightech. “All we did was put up a few walls,” he says. Cha’s client offers a different perspective: “Beautiful. Serene.”


Resources:

Paul Cha Architect, 611 Broadway, Suite 540, NYC 10012; 212.477.6957; paulchaarchitect.com. Interior Designer Margaret Innerhofer, 211 W. 10th St., 6A, NYC 10014; 917.407.5622; margaretinnerhoferdesign.com. General Contractor Kevin Crowley from Halcrow Contracting, 914.804.8158. Custom cabinetry was by Alan Peterman from Flying Chameleon Design and Fabrication Workshop, Pound Ridge, NY. Swarovski Boutique, 625 Madison Ave., NYC 10022; 212.308.1710; swarovski.com. Philippe Starck, philippe-starck.com. Dining table was custom designed by Margaret Innerhofer Design, 211 W. 10th St., 6A, NYC 10014; 917.407.5622; margaretinnerhoferdesign.com. The dining room Cellula Chandelier, the Victoria Ghost Side dining chairs, and the Tolomeo Mega Lamps in the bedroom are from Design Within Reach, 142 Wooster St., NYC 10012; 212.471.0280; dwr.com. The dining room floor tiles are Crossvile porcelain tiles from Nemo Tile, 48 E. 21st St., NYC 10010; 212.505.0009; nemotile.com. Paul Cha Architect, 611 Broadway, Suite 540, NYC 10012; 212.477.6957; paulchaarchitect.com. Bathroom faucets are from Hansgrohe at A.F. Supply, 22 W. 21st St., NYC 10010; 212.243.5400; hansgrohe-usa.com. Whirlpool tub is from Kohler, kohler.com. The Charles modular sofa is from B&B Italia, 150 E. 58th St., NYC; 10155; 212.758.4046; bebitalia.it. Living room stools and coffee table were custom designed by Margaret Innerhofer Design, 211 W. 10th St., 6A, NYC 10014; 917.407.5622; margaretinnerhoferdesign.com. Paul Cha Architect, 611 Broadway, Suite 540, NYC 10012; 212.477.6957; paulchaarchitect.com.