Spectrum House

2013 - Brooklyn, NY, USA

With a very small footprint, and by association with very tight rooms throughout, this residence in Brooklyn is designed as a vessel for the movement through the color spectrum; composed architecturally through the medium of light instead of the medium of material and partition. The design intent was to extend and exaggerate the transition through what would normally be considered very broken up and small spaces. Because the architecture is used as a kind of neutral canvas, the lighting takes on the role as definer of space and threshold. As one moves from one space to the next, the transition is stretched or blurred through the gradient of colors created by a mixing of light from one space to the next, where each color deployed is related very specifically to a transition from public (more cool color tones), to more intimate (more warm color tones).

On the street level of the project, a hair salon was designed for one of the homeowners. The space uses 2 basic sheet materials (steel and glass mirror) that are bent with a single fold to give enough rigidity to stand straight up without secondary support.