When less is more: Architects are breaking walls to make apartments roomier. From collapsible furniture to sliding doors, architects are breaking walls to make apartments roomier.

Manhattan Loft by de.Sign featured in the EYE Magazine of the Indian Express

Manhattan Loft by de.Sign

Written by Shiny Varghese | New Delhi | Published on:June 14, 2015 1:00 am  READ MORE......

     Manhattan Loft by de.Sign
The industrial monotone theme is taken forward in a Manhattan loft by architect Viren Brahmbhatt, principal architect, de.Sign Studio, which has offices in New York and Mumbai. On the top floor of a six-storey apartment, this almost century-old building overlooks the Hudson river. When Brahmbhatt arrived, he found a two-bedroom corner unit with the conventional layout of a bath and kitchen with a long corridor that connected the rooms. The floor was uneven and saggy. He soon figured out that the building’s bones were in good shape. It could become a charming space with the old sitting hand-in-hand with new aesthetics. After bolstering the ceiling and the floor, existing walls were removed. Brahmbhatt wanted a large fluid space for the graphic designer/advertising professional who lives and works here. “The layout was transformed into what I call FlexSpace, to generate a seamless spatial experience and create a loft-like space,” says the architect.

     Manhattan Loft by de.Sign

He brought in sliding glass walls, and a Murphy bed, which holds a glass enclosed bar. By leaving the walls bare and white and keeping the finishes sparse, he rid the house of visual clutter. Much of the storage is built-in while closet doors with mirrors work to reflect the entire loft and views of the river. “We decided to retain the existing structural wood beams in the ceiling and the stripped brick walls to dramatise and juxtapose the rustic with the modern. The lines of the ceiling beams alter the perception of depth, constantly flattening and elevating the sense of space,” he says. A found object in the house was the dumb waiter, which has now been enclosed in frameless glass, opening up an old, existing skylight that filters in natural light. That the loft can be divided into various spaces when required allows the client to alter its use.

    Manhattan Loft by de.Sign

     Manhattan Loft by de.Sign

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