Nouveau Niche
November 1, 2007
Everything proceeded in this fashion. An original Art Nouveau doorplate and pull was recast for the front door. Dirks carried its meandering ribbon motif into the door panel ("Marrying materials was a very typical thing to do in this style," she adds) and onto the mosaic floor. "The entire floor was templated on large pieces of butcher paper and put on a big table" at artisan Gregory Muller’s workshop in Brooklyn, explains Dirks. Clients and design team selected slabs of stone, which were then cut into cardboard-thin tesserae and dropped into place by an army of Polish art students.
"I’d go there, stand on top of it and tell them what to take out," says the wife. Once completed, the floor was cut into smaller sections and installed seamlessly.
In the dining room, the clients requested a gallery to view smaller works. GW’s solution was a glass-floored mezzanine lined with a gorgeously detailed metal banister that hangs midway under the 18-foot ceilings. That left plenty of space for a custom granite-topped table that seats 12, custom credenzas with hand-carved glass doors by artist Patrick Wadley and larger Nouveau works paired nicely with a late-17th-century Japanese screen painted on gold leaf.
The husband, a serious oenophile, made sure that the wine vault received special attention. Paneled in pearwood, it has walnut ribs trimmed with strips of patinated bronze that rise to a vaulted ceiling. It cools approximately 350 bottles thanks to ventilation subtly channeled through a stylized egg-and-dart bronze "molding" around the top of the walls. "I spent a lot of time at their wine cellar in the Hamptons measuring sixteenths of an inch to accommodate the different-size bottles," recalls Dirks.
When it came to furnishings, says Gaul, "Comfort and function were very important." Drawing on to-the-trade showrooms like Donghia, Nancy Corzine, Holly Hunt and Niermann Weeks, as well as the preeminent studio furniture gallery Pritam & Eames in East Hampton and his own designs, Gaul created a contemporary look whose clean lines allowed the art and architecture to shine, but whose fabrics—from Edelman Leather, Bergamo and Pollack—matched the surroundings in richness.
The husband defines ‘technophile,’" adds Wente, who hired Audio Command Systems to integrate the latest Crestron, Lutron and Kaleidescape systems, as well as all manner of high-tech audiovisual and computer components (the job’s systems list is seven pages long) almost invisibly into the architectural envelope. "It was a challenge getting our equipment into the intricate cabinetry they were giving us," admits Robert Kaufman of Audio Command.
Like all the substantial challenges that presented themselves
during the course of this project, however, it was one well worth meeting.
Architect: Gertler & Wente Architects, 212.273.9888,
www.gwkarch.com
Designer:
Robert Gaul Architectural Design,
917.783.6990
Tech Consultants: Audio Command Systems, 516.997.5800
www.audiocommand.com
Contractor: 3-D Laboratory, 212.791.7070 www.3-dlaboratory.com
Millwork: Thierry Goux of
Group Rinck, +33.4.7559.8791 www.rinck.fr
Mosaics: Gregory Muller Associates,
718.599.6220 www.gregorymullerassoc.com
Ironwork: Koenig
Iron Works, 718.433.0900 www.koenigironworks.com
brought to you by:
advertisement
