The Artemest Penthouse is a luxury apartment located in New York, New York, designed by MAWD | March and White Design within The Greenwich by Rafael Viñoly. Standing in the soaring triple-height lobby of The Greenwich, one is immediately struck by the interplay of monumentality and intimacy. The 26-foot ceilings create an undeniable sense of grandeur, yet the carefully curated fireplace offers a welcoming warmth rarely found in luxury towers. This thoughtful tension between scale and comfort defines MAWD’s collaboration with Rafael Viñoly Architects on one of the architect’s final masterworks.

The moment the elevator doors part on the 85th floor of The Greenwich, you are not simply entering a penthouse—you’re stepping into a carefully orchestrated dialogue between light and material. As daylight transitions to dusk across Manhattan’s western edge, the carefully curated selection of pieces from Artemest by MAWD transform from sculptural statements into a luminous structures. This metamorphosis is no accident; it’s the central narrative driving MAWD’s vision for the Artemest Penthouse.

“We took a sophisticated approach to the interiors,” explains MAWD Co-Founder Elliot March, whose commitment to the project prompted his relocation from London to New York. This inside-out design process reflects a fundamental shift in contemporary luxury residential architecture, where interior experience increasingly drives exterior form rather than the reverse.

His team’s response to this natural phenomenon echoes a tradition dating back to the Italian Renaissance, when architects like Palladio meticulously calculated how Mediterranean sunlight would animate their buildings throughout the day. Here, 800 feet above New York City, March employs reflective surfaces that “echo and toy with light”—a contemporary interpretation of a centuries-old Italian preoccupation with luminosity.

The selection of pieces creates a material counterpoint throughout the space. The balance between the substantial and the delicate recalls the mid-century innovations of Italian designers like Gio Ponti, who similarly juxtaposed visual weight with lightness. But rather than simply referencing the past, these contemporary artisans extend the tradition through subtle technical innovations.

What distinguishes this project is its holistic approach to Italian craft taxonomy. Drawing from specialized artisans across different regions of Italy, the penthouse functions as a geographical cross-section of specialized techniques developed over generations—from Venetian glassblowing traditions to meticulous metalsmithing of Tuscan workshops. The collection transcends mere showcase; it reveals how traditions evolve through dialogue with contemporary context.