LUX February 2017

LUX - February 2017 9 Sustainable Finishes and Enduring Luxury: Bamboo on New York City’s Central Park South The Central Park South bath and dressing room – a 170 square foot (53 square metre) space, presents an alternate application of sustainable finishes, including bamboo. Blond striated strand bamboo, the prominently featured finish material, brings warmth to these private rooms. Strand bamboo was installed in the flooring throughout, as well as the cladding of the open walk-in closet, the vanity, and the laundry doors. The manufacturing process fuses bamboo fibres with an environmentally safe adhesive under extreme pressure to form homogenous, high-density sheets that are then sliced and milled into solid flooring planks and veneer panels. The resulting strand flooring product is three times the hardness of traditional red oak flooring. The client for this remodel is a spirited and accomplished naïve artist in her late 80s with an impressive studio in her country home in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Both her New York City apartment and country studio are a showcase of her prolific and vibrant paintings. In planning for future accessibility, the client’s son requested an open plan bathroom and dressing room. Two weeks into the design of the project, the client fell and broke her hip, which required extensive physiotherapy and convalescence throughout the construction of this project and underscored the need for a barrier and obstruction-free bath and dressing room space. The bath and dressing room renovation transforms the outdated, segmented suite into a visually elegant, functional retreat with an adjacent laundry closet. The new layout enlarges the bathroom by relocating all the plumbing fixtures including the vanity, shower and water closet. A wall-hung water closet and cantilevered vanity create an obstruction-free floor space for ease of mobility, as well as ease of cleaning. The full-height, easy-glide sliding glazed bathroom door and sliding high-tech shower enclosure door eliminate obtrusive door swings. Open closets allow for easy visibility of closet contents. The client required a well-lit space, and the conical, ceiling-mounted, caged-marine light fixtures cast light to the floor to ensure safe manoeuvring while adding a jewel-like quality. The dressing area contains a hidden laundry closet with an energy efficient stacked washing machine and vent-less dryer. The laundry door bi-folds and tucks tightly under the dropped ceiling soffit to lie flat against the adjacent wall in an open position when the machines are in use. © Steve Freihon/ Tungsten LLC Selective carving of the ceiling planes to relate to function only creates a sculptured three-dimensional effect. Floating lit edges soften dropped ceilings that hide beams, piping, and ductwork. The hidden strip lights in the ceiling coves and under the vanity and medicine cabinet add an ethereal quality. The owner-artist worked with a master decorative plasterer to mix paint that subtly incorporated all of the colours of the surrounding finishes into portions of the remaining unfinished walls. These serve as a backdrop to showcase her newly painted flower collection. In both Central Park South projects, Lilian H Weinreich Architects demonstrates how sustainable finishes can result in luxurious compositions that are visually powerful, intellectually elegant, and timeless. The firm is currently working on several new projects, including two large apartment remodels, one on Park Avenue and the other on Central Park South, a building in Gramercy Park with duplex units, and a house in Avon, Connecticut. The firm is also exploring new markets, including the design of private jet interiors and commercial projects, where Weinreich’s considered design aesthetic and innovative use of sustainable materials can be applied in new ways. Name: Lilian H. Weinreich, AIA RAIA LEED-AP(BD+C), NCARB Firm: Lilian H. Weinreich Architects Email: [email protected] Web Address: http://weinreich-architects.com Address: 150 Central Park South #502 New York, New York 10019-1566 United States of America Telephone: 1(917)770-1000 “Selective carving of the ceiling planes to relate to function only creates a sculptured three-dimensional effect. Floating lit edges soften dropped ceilings that hide beams, piping, and ductwork. The hidden strip lights in the ceiling coves and under the vanity and medicine cabinet add an ethereal quality.”