What lies beneath

Breathing new life into an older building doesn't have to involve the removal of all the original features. As this project shows, it's possible to incorporate existing elements in an innovative, contemporary design solution.

Architect Thomas White of Andrew Cohen Architects says the apartment, in a 19th-century Victorian row house, was originally overly decorated in a traditional New England colonial style. And it featured a small, enclosed galley kitchen and low ceilings that constrained the space.

"The owner wanted the new kitchen to open to the living area, so it would be more connected with the rest of the apartment. Removing walls was also a way to make the entire space feel larger."

White says the owner wanted to avoid artificial materials and decoration. With this in mind, the apartment was stripped back to its bare bones, and the existing roughly finished brick wall was sandblasted to form a backdrop to both the kitchen and living room.

"Because there is a heritage element to the building, we left the mouldings and trim around the windows, but painted these out in dark charcoal so they appear to recede into the background."

The new kitchen was then designed to appear as a new insertion within a separate, older shell. To reinforce this idea, and to create a sense of depth, there are gaps between the new and old ceiling and wall planes. Concealed lighting emanates from some of these recesses.

"The lighting and the dark paint on the original ceiling give the impression of a surface beyond the one you can see," says the architect.

Untreated elm veneer cabinets are paired with concrete-like CaesarStone countertops, and honed slate tiles. Some of these surfaces appear to turn through 90° angles, to run in a different direction a design device that helps connect the disparate elements.

"There is a language of wrapping and turning corners," says White. "For example, the limestone floor appears to turn and run up the wall behind the perimeter cabinets, and one of the countertops turns up to wrap the wall. All the cabinets stop short of the ceiling, enhancing the sense of the kitchen as a separate enclosure."

White says the view of the kitchen from the living room was a key factor.

"We wanted to render the kitchen as abstract as possible, so it would form an attractive backdrop to the living room. This helped determine the veneer, shape and geometry of the cabinets, and the way the side walls extend out a few inches to conceal the cabinets."

Story by: Colleen Hawkes

Photography by: Greg Premru