Manhattan Micro Loft, New York
Specht Harpman
New York
Three hundred and twenty square feet isn’t much of a footprint, even for a New York City apartment. But this Upper West Side walk-up offered other compensations. “It had this great, vertical sense of space,” says architect Scott Specht, AIA. Stripping out an “unusable, odd” interior, Specht and partner Louise Harpman shaped the resulting volume into a bright, super-efficient pied-à-terre.
Tansu-inspired staircases rise from the living area to a cantilevered sleeping loft, and then to a green roof terrace, which spills daylight into the spaces below. “It has a mini-Guggenheim-ish thing going on,” Specht says. “It sort of spirals.” To save space, he says, “there are no closets. All the storage is under the stairs and in built-in cabinets.” The jury deemed the project not only “elegantly done,” but also a harbinger of things to come. Said one juror, “We’re all headed toward smaller urban living spaces.”
Project Credits
Principal in charge: Scott Specht, AIA, Specht Harpman, New York
General contractor: Raphael Ben-Yehuda, Caudro Interiors, New York
Project size: 320 square feet
Construction cost: $1,000 per square foot
Photography: Taggart Sorensen
Product Details
Bathroom fittings: Waterworks waterworks.com
Bathroom fixtures: LACAVA lacava.com
Ceramic tile: Ann Sacks annsacks.com
Cooktop: Gaggenau gaggenau.com/us
Countertops: Caesarstone caesarstoneus.com
Hardware: Accurate accuratelockandhardware.com
Kitchen fittings: Vola vola.com
Kitchen fixtures: Julien julien.ca
Lighting fixtures: Lightolier lightolier.com; Vibia vibia.com
Paints/stains/wal: Liebherr www.liebherr.us
Windows: U.S. Aluminum usalum.com
