Two Small Studios Become One Smart Apartment

Project by: Lilian Weinreich of Lilian H Weinreich Architects
Location: New York, New York

The scramble for space is never ending in New York City and occasionally you have to get creative. Lilian Weinreich did exactly that when she combined two small studios to create one open and modern apartment.

From the Lilian Weinreich Team: In New York, where real estate it at a premium, flexible space planning can help make minimal living a reality in a small space. In combining two small 450-square-foot studio apartments on Lexington Avenue in Murray Hill, Lilian H Weinreich Architects created a smart, flexible, efficient space that can easily adapt to numerous living, entertaining, and working scenarios. The client’s purchase of twenty square feet of public hallway made an easy, free-flowing circulation possible.

Sliding translucent panels feature prominently as both partition and connection between spaces, offering numerous space options and allowing the passage of light throughout the space, when open or closed. Strategically located soffits (the spaces between the ceiling and the top of the panels) house recessed panel tracks with hidden light coves that add drama when lit.

The open loft-like kitchen and island counter is the heart of the space around which the other spaces can adjust and converge. The entertainment/living/study areas can flex into three separate bedrooms with two full bathrooms and a laundry closet or a variety of other combinations as needed.

The entire apartment is designed without any swing doors to further maximize flow and openness. The sliding doors to the master bathroom enable an otherwise non-compliant bathroom to be handicapped accessible by accommodating the required 5ft turning radius in the adjacent bedroom space. All closet doors throughout have a dual function as room divider and closet door.

Natural materials—including solid white ash flooring and veined Venetian solid surface material wrap around countertops in the kitchen and master bath—provide touches of neutrals that contrast the apartment’s minimal color palette of whites. Large grey porcelain tiles ground the master and guest baths.

Thanks, Lilian H Weinreich Architects!

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