Paul Cha Architect / Chelsea Penthouse Loft
This beautiful Chelsea Penthouse Loft was designed by Paul Cha Architect. The loft occupies the top floor of a pre-war, twelve-story manufacturing building in Chelsea, Manhattan. The Chelsea neighborhood is a combination of commercial and residential spaces along with a recent influx of art galleries relocating from SoHo.
The client, a record producer and a banking executive, requested a live/work space that preserves and enhances the apartment’s loft-like characteristics. The spatial and organizational hinge of the loft is the recording Studio with a glass/steel enclosure that is perceived as a faceted lens reflecting the urban environment or as a luminous volume when lit from within. A curved glass/wood staircase wrapping around the Studio leads up to the existing Sun Room, on the roof level, which is defined by a glass/aluminum enclosure acting as a skylight.
The volume of the Studio divides the rectangular plan of the loft into two ‘L’ shaped halves: the public and the private. The public spaces - the Entry/Kitchen/Dining, and Living areas to the north are delineated by glass, open cabinetry and movable partitions. The private rooms - the Study/ Master Bedroom/ Dressing Room to the east, and the Guest Room/ Master Bathroom/Powder Room to the south are enclosed by walls, storage cabinetry and opaque glass.
The curved glass/wood staircase lets natural light penetrate into the Powder and Guest Rooms while establishing a visual continuum between glass/steel Mezzanine above the Studio and the glass/aluminum enclosure of the Sun Room framing views of the water tower on the roof. Both natural and artificial lighting are used in the design as a means of mapping and augmenting the patterns of movement throughout the loft: during the daytime natural light filters in through the East, West, North and the skylight circulating further through colored glass transoms and apertures above doors.
The natural light’s refraction on, and coloration of, wood, glass, steel and stone reflect on surfaces the outward views of the chaotic city environment. As the sun sets the process reverses, when the skin of the Studio is illuminated by artificial lighting within the glass/steel framework, re-orienting the spatial focus of the loft inward, to give the sense of a serene refuge from the hectic urban environment.
All aspects of the construction are interwoven to reinforce the spatial intentions. The construction sequence is a close collaboration among the cabinet-maker, metal fabricator, painter and architect. While the design addresses the complex programmatic requirements centered on the client’s lifestyle, the spatial orchestration and the architectural detailing is such that the loft may both be experienced in parallel complexity with its urban environment or as a calm oasis therein.
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