Central Park West Penthouse is a minimal penthouse located in New York, New York, designed by S|W Architects. The design of this apartment atop a landmark, 1930s Emery Roth building replaces a conventional, front-to-back configuration of rooms served by corridors with a free-flowing succession of spaces for the triple program of family home, chef’s kitchen, and photo studio. Several existing plumbing stacks and structural columns anchor the new plan.

The public areas are organized along a diagonal that connects two distinctive corner windows at opposite ends of the apartment. One faces Central Park, the other a large roof deck overlooking the city. Private bedrooms and bathrooms are housed in cubic volumes that disregard the existing layout of columns and ceiling beams. Instead they unfold in a dynamic juxtaposition of lines and surfaces that is emphasized by various colors and material textures.

Sliding partitions suit the different uses in various combinations. The grid of the historic, steel windows is taken as an inspiration for a new steel trellis on the terrace. This free-standing structure creates a dematerialized inversion of the apartment’s masonry wall. The corner windows become solid elements rather than apertures.

Photography by Naho Kubota