Our annual review of kitchen and bath design includes a Manhattan apartment finished in local materials, a challenging kitchen renovation in Montreal’s Habitat 67, and a land-worthy kitchen and master bath for a private yacht.
As part of his close collaboration, Brooklyn-based architect David Bucovy helped scout an apartment for his client, a Swedish businessman in love with New York City. The windows in the carefully chosen pied-à-terre at Five East Twenty-second Street overlook Madison Square Park, with its lush greenery, Shake Shack burger stand, and changing public art installations. Once the cinematic Flatiron district was chosen, Bucovy stripped the 1980s co-op apartment down to the slabs and oversaw a gut renovation. He kept the palette spare but included small, meaningful details and locally sourced materials.
New bleached and pickled white oak floors and whitewashed walls complement the owner’s bright artwork, like Woody Allen movie posters with Swedish titles. “The white palette gives primacy to the views and the light,” says Bucovy. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit has an open kitchen that dissolves into the shared living space. Custom cabinetry sprayed with a catalyzed lacquer hides under a recycled glass and concrete countertop manufactured in Brooklyn. Behind the stove, Bucovy added a glass backsplash and a minimal hood. The kitchen island nods to New York City’s history, making use of reclaimed yellow pine beams from the Putnam Rolling Ladder Company (in operation since 1905).
The client travels to the city often on business and wanted a comfortable place for his family to stay. A child’s bedroom and bath off the kitchen allowed Bucovy to experiment. He installed fiber-optic lights in a starry sky pattern on the shower ceiling, referencing the family’s cottage on the water in Sweden. “I like to put these special touches in for people,” he says. A desk sits in an office alcove that acts as a light box when an aqua-colored sliding acrylic door closes it off from the living room.
Crossing the threshold of the master bathroom, made of the blue mineral sodalite, is akin to being transported to the bottom of a swimming pool. Blue glass mosaic tiles line the walls and floor. LEDs around the perimeter of the room enhance the watery shimmer. As in the kitchen, lacquered, custom-milled cabinetry keeps toiletries and towels hidden away to maintain the quiet.
Video
Sign in to Comment
To write a comment about this story, please sign in. If this is your first time commenting on this site, you will be required to fill out a brief registration form. Your public username will be the beginning of the email address that you enter into the form (everything before the @ symbol). Other than that, none of the information that you enter will be publically displayed.