Last weekend was the annual Open House New York (OHNY) event. The doors of over 275 sites were open for New Yorkers and visitors with an interest in design and architecture. Just as last year, I volunteered along with Nina of Living in No. 40. This year, we were assigned volunteer duties at the “Chinatown Loft” site. Bonus: It was a “reservation only” site, which means it was a hot ticket item and we got to ‘walk right in’.
This apartment, located on the 5th floor of a walk up, actually started out as a 750 square foot apartment. The owner, Koray Duman of Sayigh and Duman Architects, got to work on renovations. He took it from a cramped 3 bedroom tenement setup (New York city living y’all!), to a modern one bedroom with an open living area.
A couple of years ago, Duman was actually able to purchase the unit next to his. Thus, he combined both units to create a proper three bedroom, two bath apartment.
Image above | The living room features a custom made sofa which, like the dining table, was made by carpenters on site. The ‘tv’ you see on the wall is actually a piece of digital art by artist John Gerrard. The actual tv, is a projector and projection screen that pull down from the ceiling at the touch of a button.
above | The dining area table can go from seating for 8, to seating for 40.
below | A commercial grade kitchen is done in top to bottom steel and includes compartments to hide all appliances.
above | A stack of felt sheets and magazines create the bed’s frame. Duman decided on an open bath concept in the master bedroom. He did this as a way of keeping the rooms from “getting so small”.My favorite touch, which I’m afraid you cannot really see here, is the stainless steel door. This completes the seamless look and feel of the kitchen on the other side.
below | In one of the guest rooms, touches of yellow brighten up the space.
Oh, and by the way…
If you’d like to learn more about OHNY and my assignment with last year, check out this post.
If you would like to see some great shots of what the place looked like when it was only 750 square feet, check out this blog post from 2012 by Nina of Living in No. 40.
[image of extended dining table peter murdok , new york magazine]
I know it’s a little sparse for some people but I’d love to have a commercial kitchen. Clean up would be a cinch