PENTHOUSE

Published in Boston Home Magazine

The challenge was to create new out of old in this gut-renovation of a floor-through penthouse unit in a 1928 Back Bay building. The original floor-plan was organized around a long, window-less service corridor. A centralized servants' quarters separated formal rooms in the front from private bedrooms in the rear. A 1980s renovation did little to improve this compartmentalized layout.

The new plan removes all unnecessary partition walls, allowing circulation to flow and re-connect freely around the few remaining elements: chimneys, wetwalls, stairwells, and elevators cores. These volumes become floating objects in an otherwise open plan.

The middle area is now completely open - with light coming from the front and rear, from the windows running down both sides, and from an oversized skylight above. The result is a kitchen/dining area fulfilling its role as the new "core".

The newly exposed posts and beams are encased in faceted plaster to become tree-like features sprouting life throughout the new spaces.

Program: Floor-through Penthouse
Location: Back Bay, Boston, MA
Area: 3,250 SF
Project Team: I. Kanda, M. Kanda, C. Sledziona
GC: Brite Builders
Millwork: Furniture Design Services
Stone: Louis W. Mian
Structural: Structural Integrity
Photography: Steven Hien Photography