Feature: Above the Fray
11/01/2007
Some architect-client relationships are minefields of aesthetic power games, fraught with battles over who possesses more visual refinement and taste. Others operate as efficiently as a machine, with clear delineations of tasks and obvious boundaries between the personal and professional. Then there are those rare instances of true symbiosis that flower into friendship, as in the case of this Ryall Porter Architects project—a 44th floor, three-bedroom pied-à-terre on the Upper East Side of Manhattan."The day I knew I was dealing with an exceptional client," remembers principal Ted Porter, "was the day he opened an electrical panel, pulled out the circuits and wiring and asked the electrician why he’d chosen one brand over another. We all just stood there, for a minute, in silence. It took a second for the electrician, who was totally surprised, to respond." With a chuckle, Porter adds, "At one point, we threatened to assign the client a desk in our office."
When the two met at the end of the 1990s, Porter’s client was in his late 40s, his permanent home an English Tudor in Chicago, where he lived with his investment-banker wife and their brood of children. The client’s wife had snapped up a job offer in New York, but the family decided relocation would cause too much upheaval in their lives. "She needed an apartment to stay in while in the city," the client says. "The idea was that we could visit mom during weekends and have room for all the children to stay." His wife actually ended up retiring from the company before the apartment was completed, but by then the husband was knee-deep in the renovation and totally hooked. "I’m an engineer by undergraduate training," he says. "I like to build things, to have a project."
Unimpressed with the original architect’s proposals, the client brought Porter on after seeing the firm’s work in a magazine. The two hit it off immediately. "I know what I like and don’t like about the mechanics of the process," observes the client. "I’ve built houses myself. But I don’t have the aesthetic sense Ted has, so I rely on him for the creative and artistic side of life."
Programmatically, the task was not all that complicated. "The existing apartment had a lot of Sheetrock walls dividing it into many small rooms with lots of floral wallpaper," recalls Porter wincingly. What is now an open-plan living room, dining room and kitchen, for example, was then four separate rooms—a cramped and windowless galley kitchen, a living room, dining room and study—with part of a hallway thrown in.
Additionally, explains Porter, "The client wanted to get away from the pedestrian materials the developer had used and have something more distinctive and durable. He was also interested in creating a sense of height in the ceilings."
The architect addressed the first issue by tearing down walls and opening the main living spaces to the spectacular Manhattan views. A large aluminum air-conditioning grate hogging one wall was also removed, the ducts rerouted into the soffit—where narrow, barely perceptible slits now function as outlets for cool and warm air. "There are so many windows, you almost feel like you’re moving above the fray," notes Porter, like being in the pilothouse of an enormous ocean liner gracefully making its way through Central Park.Porter designed a system of columns that defines spaces without blocking those views, then upped the luxury quotient by laying limestone floors throughout the apartment. He entrusted his associate Ted Sheridan with overseeing the construction, and brought in SilverLining Interiors as the general contractor. Porter then retained Building Block, a high-end cabinetry firm, to swath the entire apartment in mahogany paneling and millwork. "We worked hard to get just the right color," he remembers. "They wanted it to be timeless—it needed to work in all seasons." So the wood is neither too dark nor too blond, imparting a sense of warmth in winter and coolness in summer. To maximize ceiling height, Porter concealed cove lighting behind the millwork, adding a dramatic glow that brings mystery and a feeling of space overhead.
Building Block also fabricated most of the case goods—tables, credenzas, bureaus and so on—according to Porter’s custom designs. "The shell of the architecture was fairly rigorous and orthogonal," he explains, "so we wanted to complement that with softer shapes and lines, and add comfort." To this end, Porter supplemented his own furniture by tapping Studium V, Donghia and Dennis Miller Associates for many of the upholstery pieces. At the client’s request, Porter also designed every lighting fixture.
By then the partnership had become very close and, says the client, "I engaged Ted to advise me on the purchase of the art." The couple’s Chicago home boasted a collection of 18th- and 19th-century works. The initial idea was to continue in this vein, but Porter suggested that the more contemporary feel of this space begged for something modern, with an emphasis on American artists. Besides, says the owner, modern American art was more affordable five years ago, "though that has changed," he notes. Indeed, the artists represented here—William Bailey, John Beerman, Harry Bertoia, Alexander Calder and Joel Shapiro, among others—have appreciated considerably in value since they put the finishing touches on the apartment in 2003. Porter is now working on another house out West for the client and, he reports happily, they have made the leap from representational modern work to total abstraction.
"He initially brought to the project a generous budget and an open-mindedness to design and art," says Porter of his client. "But he became enthusiastically involved every step of the way: in the schematics, design development, fabrics, silverware and fine art."
For his part, adds the client, "Ted and I have evolved a friendship with a lot of mutual respect. I consider him a trusted advisor, but also a good friend."
Ryall Porter Architects, 212.254.1175, www.ryallporter.com
Building Block, 718.499.5641
SilverLining Interiors, 212.496.7800