The Oak Thread


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Our design for this apartment in the Upper East Side was focused on creating an open and efficient living space, guaranteeing spatial continuity within the historic apartment through the use of a bright yet minimal material palette.
Working with the existing pre-war layout, we reconfigured the space to open and connect the kitchen and dining area to a living room overlooking Madison Avenue with partial views of Central Park.
Additionally, a former “maid’s room” at the rear was expanded to create a third bedroom with an en-suite bath.
The soft white walls, together with the oak wood used for doors & built-in cabinetry, create a warming flow, generating a common thread that ties the different spaces together throughout the apartment.
Across the apartment, herringbone white oak floor creates a timeless surface whose light hue brightens the space.
A white oak low bookcase ties living room and dining room together, to then penetrate the kitchen where it transforms into minimal casework surrounding a monolithic island in Calacatta Marble.
In the apartment’s more private areas, bedrooms and bathrooms are redesigned to maximize efficiency and harmonize color and texture.
S4A | Space4Architecture
Space4Architecture (S4A) is an award-winning New York based architectural design studio working across different scales
and typologies, from large scale hospitality and residential buildings to houses, interiors, retail and custom
furniture.
At S4A we take pride on forging close collaborative relationships with our clients to produce spaces that
address their specific needs and identities, inspiring and involving them through the design process, with the ultimate goal
of improving the surroundings in which they live and work. S4A’s nonhierarchical approach to design enables the office to create architecture free of stylistic limitations and firmly grounded in context.
S4A was founded in 1999 by Michele Busiri-Vici. Together with current principal Clementina Ruggieri they share an
academic background from both the US and Europe and more than 30 yrs professional experience in the United States.