Bed-Stuy Loft in Brooklyn, New York by New Affiliates

Located in a former industrial space, the transformative interior renovation of Bed-Stuy Loft in Brooklyn by New Affiliates includes a restrained design which incorporates unfinished rough materials and muted blocks of colour into the existing open-plan apartment. New architectural elements, including exposed steel, raw plywood, and expanded mesh screens, both conceal and reveal areas throughout, creating a series of distinct spaces for living, working and sleeping.

The added elements playfully interact with two large existing columns positioned near the edge of the space, which serve as a terminating boundary for the design. Their architectural intervention either keeps an intimate gap that mimics the outline of the column or hugs it. Inspired by the contrast between minimalist geometries and rough materials these adjacencies of existing and new elements preserve the clean, light, continuous environment and maximise usable space without appearing overly refined.

Notable details include hand-selected plywood with a distinct gradient pattern that wraps the interior walls of the 70-square-metre interior space, carrying into the custom-designed kitchen that also features green lacquered island cabinets and bright copper pipes. The heavy interior walls are punctuated by large apertures framing curated views and bringing light from the front window-wall to the back of the loft space.

A lofted sleeping area is bounded by a floating, perforated, white metal enclosure that visually separates and connects the two distinct levels by providing privacy from oblique angles and transparency from head-on, and staggering floor heights distinguish between study/sleeping areas and guest/changing areas for the homeowner and their guest.

New Affiliates (N/A) is a New York-based design practice led by Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb. The studio learns through building and experimenting with loose forms, rough materials, and ornate object stories all investigated at a range of scales. The studio has completed construction on a house in Vermont, an apartment in Brooklyn, and exhibited work at the Venice Biennale, the Onassis Cultural Center, and several small galleries internationally.

Currently, N/A is working on an exhibition design at the Jewish Museum in New York and a 550-square-metre artist studio building in Brooklyn, among other projects.