The loft is located in downtown Manhattan, on the corner of Canal and Greenwich Streets. Once a warehouse, the building was entirely transformed into mixed commercial and residential use.

Our intention was to create a flexible space for living and working, without depriving the area in the middle of the plan of valuable day light, and to do so with a very low budget. Two very straightforward volumes hug the north and the south walls and contain the "services" (kitchen, bathrooms, darkroom, laundry, and closets.) These volumes were each given very different surface treatments, mica panels to the north and paper with silver leaf to the south. The materials' iridescent and spectral qualities enliven the masses, create illusions of depth and carry light. Sliding partitions that run across the space are translucent and movable and so preserve the open feeing and views of the "raw" loft.

The lighting was designed to counter with as little means as possible the repetitive array of beams on the ceiling. Lightweight wood framing members create a virtual plane below the concrete that is light and diaphanous. Lighting is provided by several simple lamps behind Plexiglas diffusers suspended directly from the wood members. The lamps are further shielded from the viewers by folded steel plate cowls.

Most of our design efforts were concentrated on material experimentation and its expression through construction detailing. When an element appears to us to create functional space and at the same time addresses our sense of the color and feeling that the space requires, it becomes a part of the whole.