- Interior
A stunning, luxurious building in the Hamptons underwent a ‘fifty shades of white’ interior transformation at the hands of the New York Workshop/APD. A young family with an emotional connection to the Hamptons bought a house in Sagaponack a few years ago. With the saddle roof, the cedar paving and stone chimneys, the outside of the house was everything the couple were looking for. As opposed to the inside…
Workshop/APD is an American design studio led by Andrew Kotchen, Matt Berman and Thomas J.Zoli. It profiles itself as a studio without a distinctive style, because each project has a different layout and therefore requires a different approach. The studio was commissioned to give the interior of the Hamptons home the same open, spacious feel as the exterior. Head architect Andrew Kotchen describes the interior before the renovation: ‘None of it made much sense, and it had no aesthetic, no personality.’
The dramatic height of the space is accentuated by the fireplace.
Workshop/APD changed that. They broke open part of the first floor to create an eight and a half metre high space that exposed the heavy beam structure. The dramatic height of the space is accentuated by the sculptural plaster fireplace that runs the full eight and a half metres. Walls on either side of the staircase have been replaced by vertical slats to soften the partition and extend the sightlines in the home. The clients are minimalists at heart. This proved to be a challenge for the studio, which admitted afterwards that it had never worked in a similar style before. Michael Ellison, interior designer at Workshop/APD, was forced to suppress his own maximalist tendencies. The house is completely shrouded in all variations of the colour white. Exceptions were made for a few pieces of furniture in natural, dark wood. The interior has a light, transcendental look that is balanced by the straight-line structure. Workshop/APD managed to push its boundaries and the minimalist customers can finally enjoy their new home. Photography by Read Mckendree