East Village Townhouse
In this top-to-bottom renovation, NMA transformed a three-story multifamily building in Manhattan’s East Village into an elegant, flexible home and work environment for two visual artists.
Comprising 2,000 square feet, divided equally among four floors (NMA added the fourth), the design organizes living spaces in tiers, with each serving a different range of functions. The first floor holds the street entrance and a fully-ventilated private painting studio with climate-controlled storage. The second floor consists of a film studio and office space, part of which converts to a bedroom via a set of floor-to-ceiling glass doors and a custom Murphy bed. A teak-lined bathroom positioned opposite the bed completes the compact guest suite.
The third floor holds a combined kitchen, dining, and living space, lined with custom millwork that integrates kitchen cabinetry, built-in seating, an entertainment center, and a counter-height fireplace with wood storage below.
The fourth floor is devoted to the primary bedroom suite, where a skylight over the custom bed provides a view of the rooftop garden’s vine-covered steel trellis above. Folding glass doors open onto a private terrace that overlooks the backyard garden through a custom metal railing. The tiled interior bathroom borrows daylight from the bedroom space via a band of clerestory glazing.
Rising through all four levels is a single, open staircase that lends the individual floors a more open feeling and creates a sense of procession from public to private spaces. Rows of wide Nanawall windows at every level frame garden views and fold completely aside to admit fresh air and sunlight. The vertical sequence culminates at the extensive rooftop garden, which offers a private green space in the heart of the city while saving energy by retaining heat in the winter and preventing its penetration in the summer. Other sustainable elements employed in the project include salvaged bricks, reclaimed antique pine flooring, recycled ceramic tiles, Low-E triple-glazed windows, and high-efficiency mechanical systems.
Photographer: John Morgan
