Gut-renovated house and barn in the Springs enclave of East Hampton.

Architect-of-record and architectural consulting

It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with this brilliant team of architects, engineers, consultants, and builder who realized this stunning transformation from dilapidated outbuildings into a modern residence:

Design architects: Cortina & Käll https://www.cortina.se/

Land Use / Permitting & Expediting: Britton Bistrian https://www.brittonbistrian.com/

Mechanical engineers: NY Engineers https://www.ny-engineers.com/

Structural engineers: https://oldstructures.com/

General Contractor: MANNIX Custom Builders www.mannixcb.com

Meticulous restoration of an abandoned nineteenth-century train station into a renowned dining destination.

Contractor: H.A. Cosman

https://canalhousestation.com/

Fit-out of a vacant 3100 s.f. ground floor Chelsea commercial space for the new showroom of P.I.D. Floors. Full architectural services including Landmarks approvals for interior work and exterior signage.

Full architectural services.

Client: https://pidfloors.com/

General Contractor & Interior Design: https://www.spectracd.com/

Conversion of a vacant 10,500 sq. ft. garage into an artist’s studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Architect-of-record and consulting.

Presently under construction.

Designer: S. Lee https://www.fulcra.org/

Structural Engineer: Kiefer & Schuster Engineering PLLC https://www.k-sengineering.com/

Mechanical Engineer: Earth First Consulting https://earthfirstco.com/

Filing Representative: RIZZO www.rizzobb.com

General Contractor: Construction Partners Co.

Interior gut renovation of a Second Empire-style house. New swimming pool and deck. Re-built garage as gym.

Full architectural services.

Work in progress.

Interior Design: Robin Christine Interior Design https://www.facebook.com/demottearchitects/posts/repost-from-robin-christine-interior-design-check-out-the-interiors-on-our-recen/2954005807966710/

General Contractor: https://unlimiteddesignsny.com/

Transformation of a raw, vacant industrial loft space into a luxury dwelling.

Owner / General Contractor / Interior Design: Wonder Works Construction Corp.

In 2014, I was brought in by Wonder Works Construction Corp. to do the space planning and building department filing for a full-floor, 1800 sq. ft. apartment gut renovation in one of the Richard Meier towers on the far west edge of Greenwich Village. I in turn brought in the estimable Bonnie Fox of Bonnie Fox Design to design the interiors. Two years later, the owner purchased the full-floor unit above. The same team was reassembled to combine the units, a challenging operation which involved the cutting of an opening in the structural slab to insert a connecting stair.

Structural Engineering: Nouredine Benabdelhak, Alnour Consulting Inc.

Mechanical Engineering: ABS Engineering, PLLC

Fireplaces: Hearth Cabinet

Cabinetry: AKPON

An events space. Full architectural services.
General Contractor: Wonder Works Construction Corp.http://www.wonderworkscorp.com/

Interior Design: Andres Escobar http://www.escobardesign.com/company-overview/

Structural Engineering: Alnour Consulting Engineering PC https://sites.google.com/alnourpc.com/acepc/home

Mechanical Engineering: ABS / http://absengineer.com/

Fit-out of an existing restaurant space to become a new eatery featuring Georgian cuisine.

Status: all permits issued and construction under way

Full architectural services.

Full-floor loft renovation for a painter. Full architectural services including Landmarks approvals for interior and exterior alterations.

Mechanical Engineer: Karacoban Engineering skaracoban@karacobaneng.com

General Contractor: https://womenandconstruction.co/

Gut Renovation of a Harlem townhouse. Design and Construction Management: Bill Rohlfing / Uptown Townhouse http://uptowntownhouse.com/

Renovation and expansion.

General Contractor: https://unlimiteddesignsny.com/

Pied-a-terre apartment for a couple. Open living-dining space sub-divided to create an office/guest room. Renovated kitchen and bathroom. Full architectural services.

General Contractor: Spectra Construction & Development https://www.spectracd.com/

Renovation of two duplex lofts, addition of rooftop infinity pool, sunken gardens, roof garden. Full architectural services.

Landscape Design: terrain / http://www.terrain-nyc.net/index/

Interior Design (south residence): Trimbach http://www.trimbach.com/

Interior Design (north residence): DHD (David Howell Design) http://www.dhd.nyc/

General Contractors: Certified of New York / http://www.certifiedconstruction.com/

Combination of two dwelling units on adjacent floors with new slab cut and connecting stair. Completed and occupied as of August 2019.

Client: Asyah Khan & Omar Qaiser asyahk@hotmail.com

Interior Design / Digital Imagery/Cabinetry & LIghting: Taylor & Miller Architecture & Design / Aoife O’Leary

Structural Engineering: Alnour Consulting Engineering PC / Nouredine Benabdelhak, P.E. https://sites.google.com/alnourpc.com/acepc/home

General Contractor: Alma C.T. / Albert Yangourazov alma.city@yahoo.com

Millwork: Jeffrey Taylor / Taylor & Miller

Millwork: Evgeniy “Eugene” Sokoluk escitizen@gmail.com

Studies for the gut renovation of a multi-level penthouse in a pre-war Upper West Side co-op for a Manhattan physician. Full architectural services.

Status: Phase I completed.

General Contractor: https://www.wonderworkscorp.com/

I have had a long friendship with the owners of this compound in rural New Jersey, and an association with its ever-evolving expansion for over 30 years. Location: across the road from the last surviving covered wooden bridge in New Jersey.

Manhattan offices of an international B-2-B advertising agency. Architect-of-record, space planning, code consultant, Landmarks and Building Dept. approvals.
Interior Design: Nick Brinen / Lightshed Architecture
General Contractor: Unlimited Designs http://unlimiteddesignsny.com/

One-Bedroom Condominium Residence in a converted midtown department store.
Full architectural services including building Board and NYC Dept. of Buildings approvals.

Interior Design and Construction: Wonder Works Construction Corp.
http://www.wonderworkscorp.com/

One-Bedroom Condominium Residence in a converted midtown department store.
Full architectural services including building Board and NYC Dept. of Buildings approvals.

Interior Design and Construction: Wonder Works Construction Corp.
http://www.wonderworkscorp.com/

Cellar and Ground Floor Buddhist meditation and teaching space on West 24th Street in Manhattan. Full architectural services.

General Contractor: Conde Construction Inc. http://www.condeusa.com/

Private Residence, 1158 Fifth Ave., Manhattan

Full architectural services including Board approval, NYC Landmarks and Building Department approvals.
General Contractor: Unlimited Designs
Interior Design: Weitzman Halpern https://www.weitzmanhalpern.com/

A renovation to maximize efficiency and functionality of a small kitchen by expanding into an adjacent, under-used bathroom. Complete architectural and interior design services.

Gut renovation. Full architectural services. LEED accredited speculative development.

Gut renovation of a two-family dwelling. Full architectural services.

Interior Designer / Owner’s Representative: Bill Rohlfing / Uptown Townhouse http://uptowntownhouse.com/

Renovation of a classic pre-war apartment. Space planning and permit approvals.

Interior Designer: Amie Weitzman https://amieweitzman.com/

General Contractor: Unlimited Designs Unlimited Designs | Design + Build Firm in New York

An eccentric, multi-level combination of adjacent units in a building converted to condos from a lavish, one-time masonic lodge, was given the luxe treatment by interior designer Bonnie Fox but also required a substantial architectural overhaul. Platform framing was sub-standard, a stair to a sleeping loft required one to limbo under a beam upon arrival at the upper landing; access to the upper level bathroom from the sleep loft necessitated several steps down followed by several steps up, to avoid that same massive beam. We addressed the problem by relocating the stair (converting it to something more like a ship’s ladder due to space limitations) to arrive at the landing between the platform/bathroom sets of opposing risers, which gave the awkward condition a bit more logic. Before, during and after images. Work completed in 2011. Full architectural services.

Interior Design: Bonnie Fox Design

General Contractor: Unlimited Designs

Renovation of a 2400 sq. ft. apartment. Full architectural services including space planning, condo board and building department approvals.

Interior Design: Bonnie Fox Design

General Contractor: Unlimited Designs

Fireplace: Hearth Cabinet

Cabinetry: AKPON

Minimalist makeover of a duplex penthouse.

Status: nearing completion in 2025.

Full architectural services.

Project Director: J. Lee / http://www.soundviewadvisors.net/About_Us.html

General Contractor: Douglas Reetz / R.D. Wright Inc. doug@rd-wright.com

We use our Brooklyn backyard as a laboratory to test ideas for maximizing the environmental and aesthetic potential of limited open space. Our design approach is to create naturalistic settings utilizing objects found (and often unearthed) on site, native plant species (including weeds), plant species which attract birds and beneficial insects; edibles, sculpture, and, whenever possible, a water feature. The Japanese garden design concept of shakkei, i.e., “borrowed landscape or scenery”, features strongly in our work. We oppose the prevailing trends in urban backyard design as being too slick, tailored, expensive-looking, environmentally unfriendly, and, frankly, look-alike.  Nature must be allowed to run its course.  A landscaped yard should be as lovely to behold in the dead of winter as it is at the peak of spring.  Let us unleash the potential of that weed-strewn mud patch of yours!

This accessibility and delivery ramp at a FedEx center in Lower Manhattan is deceptively complex. The program called for an assembly that could be fully demountable within a day’s time to provide access to Con Edison sidewalk vaults for maintenance and repair. With the exception of the initial section of the ramp, which bears on the sidewalk outside the range of the vaults, the entire assembly is cantilevered off the building’s masonry facade. The project required approvals from multiple agencies. Drawings were supplied to the City of New York for a similar installation elsewhere, at the request of the Department of Transportation. Skirting is with Centria corrugated panels, which clear the sidewalk to give some sense of a “floating” assembly.

Structural Engineering: Alnour Consulting Engineering PC / Nouredine Benabdelhak, P.E. nb@alnourpc.com

General Contractors: Enjay Construction, Inc. / Noel Murphy enjaygc@aol.com and DZ Construction / David Zimman david.zimman.dv@gmail.com

Renovation of a vacant 1400 sq. ft. ground floor space into offices for two Manhattan-based cosmetic surgeons. Full architectural services.

Interior Design: Timothy Brown Studio

Project Manager: Alex Duda (aduda@c4-d.com)

Mechanical Engineers: Jack Green Associates

A premiere boutique preschool employing the progressive Reggio method, at 337 Second Avenue in Manhattan. Full architectural services included space planning, building department filing, amended Certificate of Occupancy. The space was formerly occupied by a defunct supermarket and is a case study of how large ground floor retail frontage can be repurposed as a vibrant, street-level, community-based facility.

General Contractor: Wonder Works Construction Corp.

Project Manager: Konstantin Shaporov (kshaporov@wwccorp.com)

We are currently expanding these premises into an adjacent former retail space. Check back for progress photos.

Before and after photos, historic photos, design studies of facade restorations at:

1. Henry St., Brooklyn

2. Kent St., Brooklyn (Greenpoint Historic District)

3. 829 Madison Ave., Manhattan (Upper East Side Historic District)

4. Milton St., Brooklyn, (Greenpoint Historic District)

5. Noble St., Brooklyn (Greenpoint Historic District)

6. 831 Manhattan Ave. (Greenpoint Historic District)

IMAGES 1-3: Studies for a rolling credenza, Sky Terrace Lounge, 117 East 57th Street, “The Galleria,” New York, N.Y.

4-7: Study model for a lobby snack bar at 777 Third Ave., New York, N.Y.

8-9: Cineac Theatre, Amsterdam, undergraduate analysis project, 1986.

10-14: The roof of 77 Water St. in Lower Manhattan features a vintage Sopwith Camel biplane and runway. I was commissioned to build a model of a typical squadron HQ, whose actual purpose was to conceal the rooftop water tank. Alas, the full-scale structure was never built.

15-19: Various models completed while as an employee of Nine Square Design.

20: “Dinner Theatre,” a competition entry ca. 1989.

21-24: “Art on the Beach - Anagenesis” Hunters Point, Queens, N.Y., 1989. Study model, construction site, finished work. Design by Anthony Tsirantonakis. Choreography by Tamar Rogoff.

25-30: Study model for a connecting stair, duplex apartment, 515 East 72nd Street.

31-32. Study model for a security desk, lobby of 777 Third Avenue office tower.

Private roof deck in the West Village Historic District, from back in those daring days when ipe wood was classified by the NYC Department of Buildings as a non-combustible material.

Deck design, fabrication, installation: http://www.newyorkdecks.com/

Gut renovation of a standard 4-story, 4-family dwelling in Brooklyn. The stoop was removed and an accessible entrance at the ground floor was added for the elderly owners. All apartments were renovated , the cellar was converted to accessory space, and a stair bulkhead was added at the roof. Full architectural services including procurement of amended Certificate of Occupancy. Completed 2008.

The mission here was to connect adjacent apartments at different levels using less than 3 ft. of available common wall. Work also includes the removal of one kitchen and expansion of a bathroom, renovation of the remaining kitchen, finish work throughout. Full architectural services including space planning, building board, Landmarks, and NYC DOB approvals. Interior Design was a collaboration among gifted clients, general contractor and architect. Status: completed. Photos of the finished work to follow.

Structural Engineer: Nouredine Benabdelhak, P.E. / Alnour Consulting Engineering, P.C. / nb@alnourpc.com

General Contractor: Renwood Interiors Corp. / renwoodny@gmail.com

Cabinetry: Elephants Custom Furniture / Gokhan Doguer / gokhan@elephantscustomfurniture.com

Cylinders, spheres, circles, and atriums, not to mention Mexican floor tile, were all the rage back in the 1970’s when the upper two floors of this Manhattan brownstone were last renovated. While preserving the bones, we also obliterated most everything that was dated. Status: completed 2020.

Interior Designer / Owner’s Representative: Bill Rohlfing / http://uptowntownhouse.com

General Contractor: MARSTAN DEVELOPMENT CORP. / 718-677-1808 https://www.marstancorp.com/

Interior renovation, structural alterations, and re-build of sunroom at an Upper West Side penthouse. Landmarks Preservation Commission approvals required. Full architectural services.

General Contractor: https://unlimiteddesignsny.com/

The logistical challenges here were those that confront every architect who takes on a Manhattan medical office commission - the rigorous space planning necessary to fit multiple exam rooms, private offices, room for clerical staff, a waiting room, an accessible bathroom, etc., into a limited space, compounded by the need to install a wheelchair lift and retrofit new HVAC equipment. Even more challenging than that was finding a location for a remotely mounted air-conditioning condenser that would meet with NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and Department of Buildings approval. It all worked out in the end.

Mechanical Engineering: New York Engineers https://www.ny-engineers.com/

General Contractor: DUCE https://ducecc.com/