Private Air Magazine featured Turett Architects founder Wayne Turett in the September/October 2014 issue regarding his work as a creator of luxury residences for New York City art collectors.
Private Air Luxury Homes Magazine is exclusively for the world’s most discerning travelers. Readers include royalty, heads of state, celebrities, captains of industry, and private aircraft owners; all of whom expect the highest standards of excellence. Private Air Luxury Homes Magazine provides a unique perspective and a genuine grasp of the world’s most exclusive real estate, investments opportunities, fine art and collectibles. Here’s what Wayne had to say:
Wayne Turett’s World of architecture has, as he explained, “Evolved over 30 years, and my feeling is that the architecture we live in today should reflect the era we live in, perhaps it should even be inspired to look forward in a futuristic way.” For Turett Collaborative Architects, not only is designing the perfect residence for art collectors important, but also designing for today’s living is what the company strives to reach.
And reaching it they have. Beginning with Lincoln logs, blocks, and erector sets in his youth, building has been in Turett’s blood and since then, he has been honing his craft with originality and deliberateness. His ideas such as designing townhouses and penthouses in New York in particular, come with themes of adding new details to common things such as doorframes that become instantly more interesting than their former ordinary selves. Turett explained that his style is very modern and very much New York City – he frames this by saying that his is an architecture that is, “minimal – or warm contemporary.” Going on to explaining that, “Many structures in New York existed in an earlier era and are today in Landmark Districts– of course, the buildings were constructed to last, with many well over a hundred years old.”
When Turett receives a commission for redoing an original structure, he tries to incorporate original features should the client so desire , but he is always inclined to open the structure up through the use of light and volume to make it feel at once connected, yet contemporary. Turett feels that in New York City, he is given the chance to use what is there, but has the opportunity to design in a manner that allows for higher ceilings and for opening up the back walls of buildings and thrusting in a lot of glass to create that light – creating openness so conducive to displaying great art work – and often, the bigger the better. He has even participated in combining two or three townhouses into one vertical single-ownership, or changing the number of floor levels to open up space in a townhouse to accommodate large pieces of statuary for display.
“Great design is nothing without great lighting,” is a mantra that runs through Turett’s concept of design. He offers that, “It allows you to sense the light but not to be aware of the source.” When asked what he sees as trends in the future for the ways art collecting can be displayed even more dramatically in townhouses and penthouses, his propensity for light in all its forms came out again. For example, Turett and his design team have used stainless steel niches – some highly polished or brushed in the back – to be able to view a work of art in a mirrored way – giving the piece dimension that would be missed were it not for the highly polished recess.
Reflecting on the future of displaying works of art, he mentioned a new non-static art form called Video Art that uses moving pictures, video and audio. Designing and installing a place in the home to view this type of art is in the near future. When asked what his most unusual request was to design for a client, he readily admitted that he enjoyed the idea of creating a tube slide that led from a client’s office on the top floor to the living area below. He also designed a putting green on the roof, and a game room for the same 24-year old client. Interior lap pools and swimming pools are also often requested.
In addition to his many achievements in the architectural arena, Turett is also a certified Coast Guard Captain who loves to spend time on any form of water and even teaches others about seamanship. This designer’s life conjure up scenes of sail boat races and wind in the spinnakers and as Lewis Carroll wrote: “The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax– Of cabbages–and kings…” And how high would you like the interior ceiling to be to accommodate that Koons piece?
MODERN ARCHITECT MEETS MODERN ART
(Click and enlarge the images to read the article)