Our client purchased this three-bedroom apartment because of its location on Manhattan's Upper East Side and the sweeping city views it offered from the 25th floor. It was spacious, but the layout was static, consisting of walled-off rooms connected through a windowless hallway. To improve that, we introduced a series of wall openings that connect all the common rooms directly with each other as well as the panoramic views. The result is an open layout, flooded with natural light and providing ease of movement. 

The building was completed in 1970 and has a strong late-modernist aesthetic, with wide windows spanning heavy concrete columns and little ornamentation. We leaned on that style, purposely making the architecture recede so that the views and the owner's art collection could come to the foreground. A restrained color palette and minimal woodwork details make the spaces feel light and airy—a restful bird’s nest from which to peer out at the dancing cityscape.