Moving uptown from a loft that PB+A designed sixteen years earlier, the Johnsons purchased two adjoining apartments in Greenwich Village. In their words, they wanted “the architectural design spirit of our loft…so that the rhythm and architectural elements would reveal themselves unexpectedly and we and our guests would continually discover and rediscover the beauty and fitness of lines, angles, colors and curves coming together.” The conventional pre-war apartments were combined and gutted to form an open loft-like living space, with the master and guest bedrooms at its opposite ends, for privacy. Two gently undulating soffits and a circulation spine help create the rich visual environment the Johnsons wanted. The soffits incorporate cove and accent lighting, and they spatially compress the dining and study areas to make the adjacent spaces feel higher. Kitchen, dining, living, music area and study are layered along the spine, whose subtle oblique gives the space dynamism. At the spine’s edge, a colonnade frames maple cabinetry and bookshelves.

PB+A designed custom cabinetry and furniture that enhances the home’s flexibility. A dining table with an asymmetrical drop leaf allows alternate configurations for everyday use or for dinner with friends. A built-in maple cabinet, the space’s central focus, has glass pocket doors that enclose the study or open it up.

The Johnsons’ move to a neighborhood with better walking-distance amenities was a sustainable choice; their apartment includes sustainable technologies such as high-efficacy cold cathode, LED, and compact fluorescent lighting, and an ultra-quiet, multi-zone variable frequency drive central air conditioning system. (Mechanical Engineer: M.A. Rubiano PE, P.C.; Lighting Designer: Melanie Freundlich Lighting Design. Photos © Dursten Saylor)

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