Penthouse

The challenge was to create new out of old in this gut-renovation of a floor-through penthouse unit in a 1928 Back Bay building.  The original floor-plan was organized around a long, window-less service corridor.  A centralized servants' quarters separated formal rooms in the front from private bedrooms in the rear.  A 1980s renovation did little to improve this compartmentalized layout. The new plan removes all unnecessary partition walls, allowing circulation to flow and re-connect freely around the few remaining elements: chimneys, wetwalls, stairwells, and elevators cores.  These volumes become floating objects in an otherwise open plan. The middle area is now completely open - with light coming from the front and rear, from the windows running down both sides, and from an oversized skylight above. The result is a kitchen/dining area fulfilling its role as the new "core". The newly exposed posts and beams are encased in faceted plaster to become tree-like features sprouting life throughout the new spaces.