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Design Diary: Sheetrock of Ages

Barry — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:10 +0000

So many people have been asking how the Project is going on the Upper West Side that I thought I’d share some progress pictures. We are on schedule and problem free–so far. Mark, the construction manager, and Dan, his job captain, have been great to work with and are able to see any potential problem before it happens, which is invaluable.

Frank Gehry was my instructor at school, and the angled ceiling panels above the living area are something of an homage to him. I was freshly inspired by his New World Center in Miami, which I had just visited when I started working on this project.

The panels float free of the 15 and 1/2 foot ceiling, and clerestories on either end give you a sense of endless space flowing from one room to another.

Ceiling detail where the living room meets the bedroom

Soffit meets floating ceiling

Clerestories alove the main rooms allow complete visual connection

The HVAC, plumbing, and electrical are all done, and the workmen have been sheet-rocking for a couple of weeks. Next week we are expecting the new sliding doors, and the wood floors will be coming soon after.

The ceiling in the foyer floats off the wall. And all the walls float off the floor.

I’m waiting for the shop drawings for the cabinetry, and the kitchen will be shipped from Italy in June. It’s exciting to see these elements come together.

Since we’ve had such great weather, the garden is substantially done. It’s turned into a serene private park; the grasses in the center will all grow together into a carpet of green. The owner has a wonderful wall sculpture to install, and we’ll be adding furniture too. It promises to be a unique oasis in Manhattan.

Garden view from the living room

The 10-foot mirror in the garden makes it seem even bigger.

And The World Goes Round

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:09:33 +0000

I live in a very unusual loft building in New York. A former factory, it’s a 103 years old and many of the current residents, who include an artist, a jazz musician, a toy maker, and, until recently, a world-renowned photographer have been here for more than 30 years. It’s a very supportive place—we all socialize and look out for each other—and because of that, the experience of living here is unique, almost like a bigger version of February House. The noted photographer, our good friend Roy Round, has just moved back to his native London after three decades in his loft, which also served as his studio.

British fashion, celebrity, and dance photographer Roy Round in the 1960s

Roy started his career during the Second World War as an aerial reconnaissance photographer with the RAF in Egypt . (Bored to tears in the desert, he became a champion boxer.) After the war he returned to London as an apprentice photographer with Peter Clark Studios. From there he joined a small studio and within a couple of years became an active fashion photographer, working on the Paris collections twice a year and traveling abroad frequently on assignment for top magazines. He also became accomplished at celebrity portraiture, photographing Anna Magnani, Paul Bowles, Cecil Beaton, and Kim Novak among many others.

Sean Connery photographed by Roy Round in 1963, right after the release of Dr. No, the first James Bond movie

Roy took this portrait of Raquel Welch in 1967, when she was filming Stanley Donen's Bedazzled in England

One of the best parts of knowing Roy is that he has the most extraordinary stories about many of the greats of the 20th century. If a name like Judy Garland comes up in conversation he’ll say, “Did I ever tell you about the time we got drunk together at Sybil Burton’s nightclub?” Well, no, but please tell me more. He was very close to fellow photographer Tony Armstrong Jones who sat him down and said, “It’s hitting the press tomorrow that I am marrying Princess Margaret.” Roy didn’t even know they were seeing each other. Once in the 1960s, when he had been detained on a long photo session, his wife asked, “Why are you so bloody late?” As you can imagine, his truthful reply, “I was having drinks with Raquel Welch,” did not go over well.

His wife was the English ballerina and ballet mistress, the late Georgina Parkinson, and it is through her and his extraordinary work first with London’s Royal Ballet and subsequently with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, that Roy’s name will forever be most strongly linked to the world of dance.

Roy with his wife, the ballerina Georgina Parkinson, and their son Tobias, in the 1960s

Georgina Parker as the Empress Elisabeth in the premiere of Kenneth Macmillan's 1978 ballet Mayerling, photographed by Roy Round

Roy and Georgina moved to New York in 1980 at the behest of Mikhail Baryshnikov, who installed Georgina as a ballet mistress at ABT. (She had taught Baryshnikov and Leslie Brown a pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet for the 1977 film The Turning Point.) That’s when they moved into my building, and it’s in their studio loft among other locations that Roy photographed Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova, Gelsey Kirkland, Julie Kent, Ethan Stiefel, Gillian Murphy, Marcello Gomes, and many other ballet greats.

Rudolph Nureyev photographed in London by Roy Round in the early 1960s

American Ballet Theatre dancers photographed in silhouette by Roy Round

Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable photographed by Roy Round in Kenneth Macmillan's Romeo and Juliet, 1965

I am in awe of Roy’s artistic talent, but he is also the consummate dinner companion, and every time we get together I hear new stories. One night at a state performance Georgina was sitting next to some woman who asked her if she needed anything. “A glass of water would be wonderful, darling,” she answered, and the woman dutifully brought it to her. Later Georgina found out that her accommodating server was the Queen of Greece.

Roy photographed the flamboyant Australian stage designer Ian Spurling, who created costumes for Freddy Mercury of Queen as well as sets for major ballets and operas, posing dramatically in bed

Choreographer Jerome Robbins photographed by Roy in the 1950s leaning against a Saul Steinberg backdrop

I know we’ll see Roy in London, but we will miss the daily contact and we’re hoping he learns to use email to continue to amuse us with his amazing stories. He currently has a great book out called Round About the Ballet published by Limelight Editions, which profiles dancers at both the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. And he is working on a new book that will be a retrospective of his career and include all those terrific stories.

A House Is Not a Home: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:15:16 +0000

When I was a student at Harvard, I used to spend a lot of time studying in the cloistered garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Now is the most beautiful time of the year to visit as it’s filled with flowers for Easter.

Courtyard of the Gardner

I haven’t been back there for a while, but this weekend I snuck out of meetings to catch up on one of my favorite places and check out the new addition by Renzo Piano. The extension is impressive and is much in the style of Piano’s project for the Morgan Library in New York City. There a lot of good information at www.buildingproject.gardnermuseum.org, which chronicles the design and construction of the new wing.

The addition, which serves as a kind of grand foyer to the original 1903 Palazzo, includes a monumental stair of glass.

The extension also houses a concert hall, cafe, and member’s lounge, but there’s no art in the new structure.

The Concert Hall

The glass-and-steel facade creates a crisp modern look that complements, but doesn’t mimic the original building, which is based on the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice.

New facade

Past the addition’s glass breezeway, the original mansion is untouched as specified in Mrs. Gardner’s will. There are empty frames to commemorate the Vermeer, Rembrandts, and other works stolen in the great art theft of 1990. As always the best part is seeing some old friends again.

John Singer Sargent, El Jaleo, 1882

Childe Hassam, A New York Blizzard, 1890

Rembrandt, Self-Portrait, Aged 23, 1629

John Singer Sergent, Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1888

Be Our Guest

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:35:02 +0000

I recently began a new project in one of the great Art Deco buildings on Central Park West. As a nod to the building, the clients asked that the final design–a complete renovation of their apartment–have “an echo of Deco.” Not too much, not too little. It was a challenge I was delighted to take.

The clients had visited Eltham Palace near London–built by the wealthy Courtauld family in the 1930s, and one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in England–and fallen in love with the design details. In particular, they liked the wallpaper panorama in the palace bedroom, and wanted to use it in their new dining room.

Eltham Palace Bedroom

The clients found they could buy an authentic set of the vintage paper from a preserved cache at Georgia Horton in London. Called “Kew Gardens,” it was registered as a design by Sanderson on January 1, 1926, and is hand printed using 134 blocks. The panorama depicts real features at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, including the Palm Stove, the Greek Temple, the Lake, and the famous Pagoda. The clients chose it in a grey color with a lavender cast.

To make it fit, we are adding a wainscoting that will wrap the dining room. We Photoshopped the image onto our presentation to figure out the scale and to show the clients how it would look. As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one person in New York who can hang this type of paper–John Nalewaja–so we engaged him.

Proposed dining room elevation with Kew Gardens wallpaper

I found the following items that are going to make a great dining room.

Dining Table from High Style Deco

French Chandelier from Carlos de la Puenete

French Deco sconces from Karl Kemp

Eaton Side Chair by Donghia

Baker chair by Laura Kirar

One of the ideas for a rug is this simple Deco design, which will ground the room. Its border design, which will not be hidden by the table, subtly echoes the new moldings at the ceiling.

Rug to be custom color

We are also going to change the traditional dentil moldings for a Deco design similar to what would have been installed in the original building. I found this design at invitinghome.com.

Art Deco Crown Molding

One of the challenges to this project is that there is a wall of built-in cabinets on the left side of the room. They are only seven feet high, and feel more appropriate for a bedroom.

Before: Existing Dining Room Cabinetry

My solution is to keep the carcasses, and put on new “disappearing doors.” The wainscot will run across the bottom of the doors, the top half will be mirrored, and the height “faked” to seem to reach the ceiling line. This will make the doors disappear and reflect the incredible mural on the opposite wall. The shaded diamonds represent audio speakers that will be installed in that location.

After: Proposed Dining Room Cabinetry

I think this dining room is going to be fantastic. Stay tuned for the reveal in the fall.

Design Diary: People Who Need People

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:13:02 +0000

While reviewing my meeting calendar for March, it struck me that not everyone may realize how many key people it takes to do a job of this scope. Here’s a list of names and activities to give you an idea:

Mark Azzapardi of KNG Construction and his job captain Dan Vine run this project. We speak daily, meet formally every Wednesday morning, and get together on other days as well if necessary. When the client is in town, she joins us too. Just this month we had the following consultations:
Mark, Dan, and I reviewed all the framing issues with the electricians, plumbers, and framers.
Greg Greenwald of SoundSense is an acoustical engineer. He designed the abatement for walls separating the apartment from the lobby and those around the HVAC units inside and in the garden.
Howard Werner, a great sculptor, is designing and building a floating shelf with me for the foyer.
Mario Vrankovic of Modern Air in Long Island City is fabricating the air conditioning system.
Biagio Lucenti of Lucenti Altay is making the kitchen for us in Italy.
Gan Leehannanfakul of G2J De sign is our lighting designer. We reviewed changes, some new ideas, and the ordering of all the fixtures.
Amos of Window Tech measured for blinds and shades that he will be fabricating. He also coordinated the electric for motors for all the blinds.
Tony Loizos of Hi-Def is doing all the audio-visual systems.
Paul Harness of Plant Specialists is the landscape designer. We met to coordinate the work, and review the electrical issues for irrigation and lighting in the garden. Isaac from his office pruned the trees that overhang our garden.
Ann Bitters, the client’s trusted Interior Designer from Phoenix has some wonderful ideas for furniture and finishes.

One thing we discovered amidst all these meetings was that the 15 foot ceilings above both baths were unobstructed. I decided to slope the ceilings and continue the theme of the floating cathedral ceiling in the living room. I sketched an idea (below) on site. Then we drew it in CAD and it’s being built.

Guest Bath Sketch

Framing for Guest Bath Ceiling

Living Room Ceiling Under Construction

Overview of Living Room

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning. . .

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:38:16 +0000

One of my favorite things on a project is selecting the bathroom fixtures and fittings. Rona Goodman at the AF Supply showroom in Manhattan is my “go to person.” There are so many new products on the market, and even though I read the shelter and trade magazines, Rona helps keep me current. I think it’s very important that the client sees the faucets and other fixtures in person, touches them, experiences how they feel in the hand, checks out the finishes. The AF Supply showroom is well laid out and a great place to do all this, so the client met me there to examine everything and make the final selections.

Before construction, I met with the Rona and the contractor to review all the technical requirements, sizes, plumbing needs, mounting instructions, and so on. I find this very helpful and it eliminates many potential problems down the road.

In a renovation one always makes discoveries. Every millimeter of storage is premium in New York, so we annexed a few extra inches here and there in order to gain maximum stowage space if we make custom medicine chests. We also realized that it would be better to choose a narrower tub than the one we’d originally selected. The new choice is a gorgeous tub from a German company called Kaldewei.

The lights, Inner Fire pendants from Tech Lighting, are hung low from the ceiling just above the sink. That provides better light than if they were 10 feet overhead where they’d create deep shadows on the face. There is additional recessed lighting in the room and over the shower.

As the apartment is so sleek and modern we chose fixtures that will complement the decor. We have ordered the following:

Chrome faucet from Gessi

Sink from Wet

Toto Toilet

Pendants from Tech Lighting

Desert Cool: Two Terrific Museums in Arizona

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:30:43 +0000

I have visited the Scottsdale-Phoenix area every six months or so for many years, but I’ve only recently discovered two interesting museums there that I was previously unaware of: the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) and the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix.

SMoCA, founded in 1999, is located in the Old Town district of Scottsdale in a former corporate movie theater that was turned into a sleek, minimalist building by Phoenix-based architect Will Bruder. When I visited in January, there was an exhibition of wonderful paintings by the Los Angeles artist Kirsten Everberg. She paints mostly LA scenes—iconic architectural landmarks that have been used as locations in movies—exploring the elusive line between fiction and reality. Her images are composed of elements she’s taken from films, photographs, and memory, and are painted in oil and enamel, so their glossy and colorful surfaces shimmer seductively. This was Everberg’s first major solo exhibition in a U.S. museum–she’s definitely worth looking at.

The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art is housed in a former corporate movie theater transformed into a minimalist building by Will Bruder.

At SMoCA I saw an exhibition of oil and enamel paintings by the talented LA artist Kirsten Everberg. This is Cinema, (LA Theater), 2010.

Kirsten Everberg, Bar, 2003

Kirsten Everberg, LA Mill, 2008

Kirsten Everberg, Cinema, Balcony (LA Theater), 2010

Kristen Everberg, Church, Haut du Lievre, Nancy, 2005

My other Arizona discovery, the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, was founded by Robert J. Ulrich, former CEO of Target Corporation, and opened in 2010. The collection has more than 15,000 musical instruments from every country in the world. My favorite part was the Artists Gallery, where you can see and hear instruments from such celebrated musicians as John Lennon, Paul Simon, Les Paul, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana. There was also a very cool traveling exhibition about Elvis Presley, on loan from Graceland. The rest of the museum is devoted to music around the globe, which is divided into five geographical areas. There’s a beautiful small theater for live performances and an excellent cafe with a lovely desert-like garden to sit in.

Opened in 2010, the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix was founded by Robert J. Ulrich, the former CEO of Target.

The museum has more than 15,000 exhibits from around the globe, divided up into five geographical regions.

The massive collection includes many guitars that belonged to some of the world’s most famous rock musicians.

MIM has a fabulous selection of instruments from Africa and other parts of the globe.

There’s a beautiful 300-seat concert hall for live performances.

The Art of Seeing Art

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:23:18 +0000

I went to three wonderful and very different art shows this week that are still open.

Cecil Beaton: The New York Years

at the Museum of the City of New York, www.mcny.org
“Perhaps the world’s second-worst crime is boredom; the first is being a bore.”Cecil Beaton

From the 1920s through the ‘60s, Manhattan’s artistic and social circles embraced British-born photographer and designer Cecil Beaton (1904-80). Cecil Beaton: The New York Years brings together extraordinary photographs, drawings, and costumes by Beaton to chronicle his impact on the city’s cultural life. Beaton’s relentless energy and curiosity spurred him to pursue new fields, from fashion and portrait photography to costume and scenic design for Broadway, ballet, and opera, and to put his own aesthetic stamp on each of these endeavors.

Beaton designed the sets and costumes for My Fair Lady

Great Garbo, who was the one woman he loved

Self-portrait

Marlon Brando 1948

Daniel A. Bruce

at the Dean Project, www.deanproject.com

In his words:

My most recent objects and images were conceived as conflations of my own personal idiosyncrasies regarding power and value. These investigations require that I discern the ruses and value relations of our postmodern condition in order to re-purpose a stratagem of my own that highlights the suspect nature and ideological parameters of convention. My interest dwells in the moment when sign-value takes precedence over use-value and the location of this moment in the history of commodity. The work is aligned with what I have coined a ‘bumpkin aesthetic’—the methodological combination of the awkward and unsophisticated with the ideals of artistic validity. ‘Bumpkin Aesthetic’ as a methodological combination has a conflicted nature that simultaneously conjures both high and low cultural practice in advocation of ambiguity, heterogeneity, and freedom.

Compost (detail) fest. Daniel

Rustic Room (Deer Head)

Untitled, 2011

Pig With Wings, 2012

George Platt Lynes

at the Stephen Kasher Gallery, www.stephenkasher.com

George Platt Lynes did not initially intend to have a career in photography. The summer after his graduation from high school, Lynes traveled to Paris, where he met the writers Gertrude Stein and Jean Cocteau. He returned to enroll at Yale University but left school after one semester. His parents helped him start a publishing house, but the business soon failed. The serendipitous gift of a camera led him into taking portraits of his literary friends, including Marianne Moore, Colette, and W.H. Auden. In 1933 Lynes opened his first New York studio where he did fashion photography for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar; throughout the 1930s his elegant portraits gained popularity among the city’s elite. The 1940s saw at once Lynes’ decline as a fashion photographer and the production of his exceptional work with the male nude. After an ill-fated foray into Hollywood publicity photography, Lynes returned to New York, but was stricken with debt and illness. Diagnosed with cancer in May 1955, he died later that year at age 48.
In 1935, Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine invited Lynes to produce promotional photographs for their ballet company. Kirstein, who had been Lynes’ schoolmate, realized that this work would perfectly fuse Lynes’ talents in fashion and portrait photography. For twenty years, Lynes photographed many of the era’s greatest ballet dancers.

Untitled, 1936

Untitled, 1933

Gloria Swanson, 1939

Sono Osato, 1937

Elizabeth Gibbons, 1938

Untitled, 1941

Design Diary: Hurry It’s Lovely Up Here

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:32:57 +0000

One of the rare treats of this apartment is a fantastic city garden. Measuring 50 x 30 feet, it’s actually bigger than the apartment itself. And every room faces onto it. I had a simple concept for the garden. I wanted it to be clean, modern, and very architectural– enhancing the spirit of the apartment itself. We enlisted Paul Harness of Plant Specialists who came up with a fantastic scheme.

There were a few inherent problems. Light is an issue. Paul analyzed the space to figure out what will grow best and in what location.

There is an ugly fence on the West Side that we can’t change. He suggested a great fence to place in front of it made of horizontal knotty cedar boards. We are also creating an area behind the fence to hide the air conditioning units and for storage.

New fencing concept

The blue-stone pavers were laid in an ugly random pattern. Paul is sorting them and laying them in varied “stripes” in a great modern way.

The center will have birch trees that form a custom-designed personal park. Other areas include chaise lounges to read and sun, and a dining area for dinner parties. He selected beautiful vertical trees for the Eastern wall.

Birch trees

Trees for Eastern Wall

One of the most unique features is a huge mirror that will extend the western view of the garden and double the size of the planting.

Lighting throughout will create a great mood from every window in the apartment.

The client also asked for a swing for the grandchildren. Paul found this minimalist piece that will have rubber chips underneath so they don’t get hurt.

Swing

Rubber chips

Construction started on the garden this week as you can see in the photos.

Plan by Plant Specialists

Before Photo showing existing fence

Laying out the new “park”

Week one in the garden

Proceeding apace

UPDATE FROM THE SITE:

They have taken out the lower walls under the existing windows. There are all being replaced by sliding doors. You can see how open the apartment becomes and the visual flow from inside to outside.

Indoor/Outdoor

You’ve got to crack the eggs. . .

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:02:54 +0000

Construction has begun and our contractor, Mark Azzapardi, of KNG Construction has gutted the apartment back to the structure. It’s a bit shocking, but exciting. I’m glad the clients are away so they won’t see how little is left of their expensive NY investment.

There were no bad surprises. We picked up lots of extra inches, pipes where where we hoped they’d be. There were some hidden leaks that would have caused future problems that we can repair.

Today, they will start framing the walls.

The view toward the future guest room

View toward the future Master Bedroom

View from future living room looking out at garden

Reminder of pre-demo living room