PURITY

Big City, Little Loft

Dwell: Big City, Little Loft
New York City is the nation’s capital of cramped quarters. But for a select lucky few, scant square footage adds up to a cozy home to call one’s own.

“The goal of the renovation, says Choi, was a balance between density and porosity: ‘We set out to maximize the space—to make full use of every cubic inch of this volume—without blocking anything out.’ The client, too, sought an interlinking of opposites, though of a different kind. ‘I’ve inherited my father’s aesthetic,’ Wonbo observes, referring to the elder Woo’s modernist vocabulary. ‘But if I have a complaint about modern design, it’s that it’s sometimes not’—he hesitates, then utters the C word—’cozy.’ Recalling the home in which his family lived prior to his father’s creation, an 1870s Cambridge residence, Wonbo says, pointedly, ‘I was glad to have had the experience of living in a cozy place.’ Thus, whatever other feats the design may accomplish, an infusion of this intangible element remained essential.”

Author: Marc Kristal / Photography: Adam Friedberg / @dwell

Original Article