West Chelsea Apartment | BoND

In West Chelsea, Manhattan, BoND transformed a dark and divided apartment into a bright, loft-like space. 

Measuring 11.5 by 50 feet, the apartment’s original layout was typical to many prewar apartments in New York; it was divided into three distinct sections: a living room, a bedroom, and a closed-off corridor connecting the two - which housed the kitchen and the bathroom. We removed these partitions to create one continuous space, celebrating the apartment’s elongated proportions and maximizing the illusion of depth. The renovation created a clear distinction between the western wall - along which the apartment's utilities, services and hardware are located - and the eastern wall, which was left blank to provide room for art display. 

Our design makes use of custom design details combined with off-the-shelf products. The fireplace, for example, is an original (and functioning) fixture of the apartment. Its brick core was wrapped by a cut-and-folded sheet made of stainless steel, which we  commissioned at a local workshop in Chinatown, giving the room a contemporary edge.

Photography by Eric Petschek