Vertical House

Vertical House in New York, NY by Marble Fairbanks, 2000
 

The following text and images are by Marble Fairbanks for their Vertical House completed in New York City in 2000.

This project required designing a highly flexible live/work space with areas that could have both domestic and work functions. The client had a philosophical interest in spatial and managerial organizations which allowed multiple patterns of activities, both social and work, to form based on smaller individual tasks rather than singular bureaucratic demands.

The site consisted of two units of a townhouse on the upper west side of Manhattan which combined to form a three story space with a roof terrace.

The design evolved from the multiple program demands, often conflicting, that were placed on each space. The three levels are connected by open tread steel stairs which are cantilevered from a party wall and placed adjacent to a clear glass floor creating a strong sense of vertical continuity between floors. When desired, this continuity can be altered by an operable door which intersect the stairs and fabric screens which diffuse the view through the glass floor. These alternations allow the lower level to function as either a private living or more public working space.