New York, New York, USA
The Greenwich Village Residence by Desai Chia Architecture is a serene, light-filled 2,250 sq. ft. apartment in New York City that reimagines urban living through material warmth, sculptural details, and spatial fluidity. With custom oak millwork, a luminous marble kitchen, and flexible living spaces
The concept of the Greenwich Village Residence marries light and material texture with architecture.
The team collaborated with a local lighting fixture company to develop a custom surface-mounted light for concrete slab ceiling conditions that can provide down lighting, directional wall washing, and art lighting in a discreet compact housing of milled oak wood that matches all the built-ins and flooring throughout the home.
The clients wanted a home with an open flow of light that would make the three-bedroom apartment feel as spacious as possible.
The architects maintained long sightlines from one end of the apartment to the other, drawing natural light across the home.
For its archtiectural elements, the Greenwich Village Residence has been awarded a 2024 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
They sheathed the central core in custom oak panels that have a three-pronged batten relief inspired by the couple’s three children and the branches of the trees in the building’s courtyard.
The light casts shadows across the battens and gives depth to the surface.
A cantilevered seating bench at the entry way and display shelving on the other side of the wall create volumes of light within recessed cubbies.
The kitchen is a luminous volume defined by a soldier-course marble mosaic backsplash and island. It is sculptural and highly functional with ample storage.
The “column” of wood that hides the cooking ventilation and gas riser is an elegant anchor for the kitchen and conceals the cooking area from the dining area’s direct view.
Above the dining room, a commissioned light fixture by artist John Procario floats like the outline of a billowing cloud; its hand-laminated, sinuous wood shape expands and contracts from different viewing angles while providing generous lighting to the table below.
The living room and study are conjoined to allow the family to entertain larger groups; a series of sliding wood panels creates privacy between the two spaces when guests come to stay (the sofa folds out into a queen size bed.)
The study has a built-in dry bar and desk area neatly recessed into the wood core.
Project: Greenwich Village Residence
Architects: Desai Chia Architecture PC.
Lead Architects: Katherine Chia and Arjun Desai
General Contractor: Headwater Contracting Ltd.
Client: Private
Photographers: Paul Warchol
