How do we connect two small apartments to a create great duplex apartment? It starts with understanding our clients’ vision of a great place to live, work, play and entertain?
One client had a vision of sliding easily from a hectic day in his home office to fun living areas. We took up this challenge and transformed two small East Village apartments into a 2400 square foot duplex, connected by a stainless steel slide.
The slide curves in front of an 2-story window with the City beyond. With our careful detailing, the playground element became distinctive sculptured art. The owner also enjoys a game room, office and putting green on the terrace…..and yes, we also added a high quality, Italian-made “Rintal” stairs.
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Residential Penthouse / East Village, New York, NY / 2,400 Square Feet / Completed Winter 2010
WHAT IS A DUPLEX APARTMENT? A duplex apartment has space on two separate but adjoining floors, connected by a private, interior staircase. Duplex apartments tend to be large homes, and are most commonly found in luxury buildings like those Fifth Avenue, and Park Avenue. Great duplexes are being creating through renovations taking place in Tribeca, Noho, Chelsea, and Meatpacking District. The duplex apartment stairway that connects the two floors vary in style and width. Most use some sort of space-saving technique in their design. Spiral staircases are frequently used in smaller duplex apartments, but even larger units will most often try minimize the use of square footage with switch-back staircases and striking floating designs.