In Manhattan’s landmarked Tribeca North area, the 3,000-square-feet top floor and roof of an 1884 caviar warehouse are reconceived by New York-based Andrew Franz Architect as a loft with a large open entertaining zones and a fluid connection with the outdoor environment.
The residence is transformed by a relocated mezzanine where a sunken interior court with a retractable glass roof connects to the planted green roof garden above. This gesture of subtracting volume from the interior brings the outdoors into the primary living zones. The roof, peeled back, showers the spaces with natural light. When open, ample air flow enters what was once a poorly ventilated and dark loft. By night, the court acts as an internal lantern illuminating the loft below.
Embracing the building’s industrial past, a visual discourse between new and old is devised through insertions of modern materials along with restored or reclaimed materials from the loft. A custom steel stair repurposes timbers from the old roof joists as treads and landings. The multiple level residence is unified by a walnut fascia that serves as a conceptual datum.
all images © ALBERT VECERKA / ESTO PHOTGRAPHICS