Chelsea Loft

This historic New York City Chelsea commercial building had been gutted, to be reclaimed by new owners who relished the potential of its beautiful bones. With only two apartments to a floor, it was an architect’s dream; empty loft space with high ceilings, flooded with light from huge windows at either end.


Our client was a European businessman with vision and a real command of the modern design idiom. He was seeking a combination office/residence and our collaboration generated continuous inspiration and excitement, fusing custom designs with the highest-end contemporary Italian furnishings from B & B Italia, Flexform, and Poliform.


With a 3000 square foot blank canvas, Giusi designed an open plan framed with a sweeping kitchen, a large dining room, and a living room.


A library/office was placed opposite creating flexibility in the space needed for work and meetings. Giusi also designed a vast structure of stone as the living room’s focus, cleverly combining an original sculptural fireplace with a housing for a television screen above it.


A sofa and two chairs marked an optical transition from the living room to the dining area. Within it, a massive 12-foot-long table and eight chairs, visible from the entry, promised lavish hospitality.


Bedrooms lay beyond the kitchen wall. Here, more generous space led to another original idea on the grand scale: the Poltrona Frau bed was set against a 17-foot-long, 5-foot-high custom wood headboard to give the master bedroom character and warmth.


To feature the client’s exceptional collection of modern art, Giusi created a complex lighting plan, and chose a palette of pale colors for walls and carpets – neutral, yet warm – throughout the loft.


Together, ORA studio and the client had created a deeply satisfying large-scale drama in an elegant space that was light, minimal, and functional; its beautiful bones had been transformed into a sculpture for living.