Wythe Corner Townhouse in Brooklyn, New York by Young Projects

Article source: Young Projects

The Wythe Corner Townhouse radically reimagines Brooklyn’s traditional townhouse typology. For this award-winning residence completed in 2016, Young Projects gut renovated an early-1900s townhouse, simultaneously erecting a luminous, hovering addition on an adjacent empty lot. Rather than expanding the original townhouse directly back on the ground level, or evenly on all three levels, Young Projects lifted the addition off the ground, propping it on pilotis to give the impression of a floating volume. A central double-height living room, curving staircase, and series of inner courtyards and rooftop gardens fuse the original townhouse to the raised addition, creating a home that is at once cohesive and unconventional.

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

• Architects: Young Projects
• Project: Wythe Corner Townhouse
• Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA
• Photography: Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Throughout the combined 2,500-square-foot townhouse and 2,000-square-foot addition, Young Projects prioritized their client’s desire for a home filled with light and landscape. On the ground level, a void situated below the raised addition doubles as an open-air workspace for the owner (a photographer and landscape architect) as well as parking. The second floor connects the original townhouse to the addition through one sprawling, continuous living space. A double-height dining room, which sits at the intersection of both buildings, is lined on one side by a frieze of windows that offer a view, upwards, into a sunken third-floor courtyard filled with lush greenery.

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Young Projects

“The courtyard is adjacent to the double height living room and therefore visible throughout the house on multiple floors,” explains Young Projects founder Bryan Young. “We like that this opening is hidden from the exterior while also serving as the fundamental organizing element for the program at the interior.”

The second and third floors are further linked by a sinuous interior staircase and curved balcony lined with grey “Filzfelt,” an industrial fabric manufactured by Knoll. The curvilinear line of the balcony is reflected into the ceiling of the living space as a serpentine curtain track that carries a room divider made from the same felt. Near the top of the staircase, Young Projects placed a circular skylight, giving “the curving rail a sense of location relative to the natural light and opening to the sky,” says Young.

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

On the third floor, the owner’s photography studio borders the sunken courtyard, while a bedroom sits on the other side of the home. From this level, exterior stairs lead to the roof, where a landscaped private garden perches atop the addition. A patio finished with stone pavers and custom planters sits slightly below, on the roof of the original townhouse. As Young explains, “The home incorporates exterior spaces into tight urban interiors in unexpected ways. This speaks to the manner in which the quality of natural light and landscape are fundamental to the spaces we design.”

Outside, the exterior surface of the addition is clad in perforated and corrugated zinc, subtly playing off the scale, proportion, fenestration, and texture of the existing townhouse which has been painted black. Compositionally, the dark mass of the addition feels balanced with the black masonry of the townhouse, fully unifying old and new.

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Image Courtesy © Alan Tansey

Bryan-Young, Image Courtesy © Young Projects

Section, Image Courtesy © Young Projects

Floor Plan 2, Image Courtesy © Young Projects

Roof Plan, Image Courtesy © Young Projects

Floor Plan 3, Image Courtesy © Young Projects

Section, Image Courtesy © Young Projects

Tags: New York, USA

Categories: Apartments, House, Residential

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