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Fractal Pad
Fractal Pad
New York, NY, United States
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Other Projects by Architecture In Formation
Fractal Pad
New York, NY, United States
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2010
SIZE
3000 sqft - 5000 sqft
This project is about a highly glamorized domestic
typology: the urban bachelor pad. The client, a very young and successful Wall Street commodities trader wanted to create an entirely interior landscape away
from the city and the outside world. Our response was to consider the experience of this primary residence as a daily return to Plato?s Cave; as the conscious exfoliation of exterior stresses through the creation of an enveloping abstract domestic landscape, where light and shadow could simply be appreciated for their beauty and mystery, and the outside world could cease to exist. The resulting completed project, Fractal Pad, is a sumptuous geometric oasis for a lover of mathematics and geometry. It develops from the formal logic of fractal geometry, bending space and light to create a seamless, harmonious experience. The crisp new interior installation contrasts starkly and elegantly against the loft?s original rough-hewn concrete columns and slab, and a rich, blood-red Santos mahogany plank floor, creating a desired effect
that is at once akin to a futuristic private luxury aircraft and a primordial cave.
The two overriding initial inspirations for the
project were:
1. The existing faceted concrete column capitals that punctuated an otherwise perfectly
homogenous orthogonal landscape.
2.
The extreme
attenuation of exterior view and natural light across a very long, open space.
The original existing 3000 SF loft was quite simply, a
?developer special?. While located
within one of the most sought-after residential loft buildings in Tribeca, the existing
residential space had serious issues: most significantly, there were windows at
only one end of the 75? long space, meaning natural light had no way of
reaching the northern half of the interior. Ironically, that was the attraction
to the client.
The most conceptually significant installation into
the project was, go figure, the TV. Of course TV and internet would remain the
primary window from which to reconnect back to the outside world from the
residence, so we opted to create a virtual window, on par scale-wise, and
spatially opposite the loft?s main window. The windowless back wall becomes
image surface for a 12? wide projection screen for TV, computer, and a video
light sculpture commissioned by LA video artist Jeffrey Wells. These two
windows, which book-end the 75? long public space of the residence, produce two
competing views, each totally controlled by the owner: one a view south onto
the quiet Tribeca side street, and the other view, when not tuned to TV or the
computer, is the blazing, open, cloudless, desert sky of Joshua Tree, CA, on an
adjustable time-lapse, from dawn-to-dusk, capturing the western desert
sunlight. The architect?s classic obsession with natural light and air is
juxtaposed with the equally compelling desire for seductive image. And poised
between these two windows, hovering above the kitchen, the ?projection cloud?
becomes a futuristic light sculpture and focal point. The flat, floating
western walls become the backdrop for an evolving art collection, which we have
been intimately involved in developing with the client.
The entire project was ostensibly ?carved? around the
existing structure, and could not have been conceived without extensive 3D and
parametric modeling that allowed us to test a range of material possibilities
within the confines of budget, light emitting characteristics (the
shrink-wrapped PVC projection cloud and a range of back-lit Corian elements).
The final product is an ambitious endeavor exploring the subtleties and
complexities of urban domesticity. Polished and raw, sacred and profane,
mechanical and artisanal, UV and DPI, art and life: these are elements at play
in this carefully-curated domestic landscape.
FRACTAL PAD had been selected as one of the honorees for 'Interior Design' magazine's Fifth Annual 'BEST OF YEAR' award in two categories: BEST RESIDENCE: Urban Apartment/Loft; BEST KITCHEN/BATH.
typology: the urban bachelor pad. The client, a very young and successful Wall Street commodities trader wanted to create an entirely interior landscape away
from the city and the outside world. Our response was to consider the experience of this primary residence as a daily return to Plato?s Cave; as the conscious exfoliation of exterior stresses through the creation of an enveloping abstract domestic landscape, where light and shadow could simply be appreciated for their beauty and mystery, and the outside world could cease to exist. The resulting completed project, Fractal Pad, is a sumptuous geometric oasis for a lover of mathematics and geometry. It develops from the formal logic of fractal geometry, bending space and light to create a seamless, harmonious experience. The crisp new interior installation contrasts starkly and elegantly against the loft?s original rough-hewn concrete columns and slab, and a rich, blood-red Santos mahogany plank floor, creating a desired effect
that is at once akin to a futuristic private luxury aircraft and a primordial cave.
The two overriding initial inspirations for the
project were:
1. The existing faceted concrete column capitals that punctuated an otherwise perfectly
homogenous orthogonal landscape.
2.
The extreme
attenuation of exterior view and natural light across a very long, open space.
The original existing 3000 SF loft was quite simply, a
?developer special?. While located
within one of the most sought-after residential loft buildings in Tribeca, the existing
residential space had serious issues: most significantly, there were windows at
only one end of the 75? long space, meaning natural light had no way of
reaching the northern half of the interior. Ironically, that was the attraction
to the client.
The most conceptually significant installation into
the project was, go figure, the TV. Of course TV and internet would remain the
primary window from which to reconnect back to the outside world from the
residence, so we opted to create a virtual window, on par scale-wise, and
spatially opposite the loft?s main window. The windowless back wall becomes
image surface for a 12? wide projection screen for TV, computer, and a video
light sculpture commissioned by LA video artist Jeffrey Wells. These two
windows, which book-end the 75? long public space of the residence, produce two
competing views, each totally controlled by the owner: one a view south onto
the quiet Tribeca side street, and the other view, when not tuned to TV or the
computer, is the blazing, open, cloudless, desert sky of Joshua Tree, CA, on an
adjustable time-lapse, from dawn-to-dusk, capturing the western desert
sunlight. The architect?s classic obsession with natural light and air is
juxtaposed with the equally compelling desire for seductive image. And poised
between these two windows, hovering above the kitchen, the ?projection cloud?
becomes a futuristic light sculpture and focal point. The flat, floating
western walls become the backdrop for an evolving art collection, which we have
been intimately involved in developing with the client.
The entire project was ostensibly ?carved? around the
existing structure, and could not have been conceived without extensive 3D and
parametric modeling that allowed us to test a range of material possibilities
within the confines of budget, light emitting characteristics (the
shrink-wrapped PVC projection cloud and a range of back-lit Corian elements).
The final product is an ambitious endeavor exploring the subtleties and
complexities of urban domesticity. Polished and raw, sacred and profane,
mechanical and artisanal, UV and DPI, art and life: these are elements at play
in this carefully-curated domestic landscape.
FRACTAL PAD had been selected as one of the honorees for 'Interior Design' magazine's Fifth Annual 'BEST OF YEAR' award in two categories: BEST RESIDENCE: Urban Apartment/Loft; BEST KITCHEN/BATH.
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