SoHo Terraces

SoHo Terraces

At a Glance

• 2,000 SF
• Lower Manhattan
• 2021

We designed a series of four bespoke exterior terraces for a gut-renovated SoHo penthouse, strategically framing the city skyline while protecting the home’s privacy. The project was born of expansive creative dialogue with the team at Gachot Studios, who handled the home’s interiors. Our approach infused their design ideals with our ideas, centering on a meticulous curation of native grasses, shrubs, and perennials for a continuous indoor-outdoor feel. The result is a technically ambitious series of distinct topographic scenes. Each terrace synergizes aesthetics, function, and efficiency, creating a private, zen-like experience.

Across the terraces, we featured local limestone, creeping thyme, Irish moss, and a spectacular Banshosho pine tree. Graceful integrations of climbing, perennial growth marry with custom poured-concrete hardscapes and various architectural surfaces. Aged, natural materials subtly juxtapose modern design elements, like custom-cast metal planters in soft zinc and copper. Where plant life meets patina, and indoor meets outdoor, each terrace speaks to the overall architecture and interiors while embracing the calming force of open-air urban real estate.

The lower floor performs like a series of opening-up pockets, connected by an open floor plan centered on a sprawling primary bedroom; its floor-to-ceiling, industrial-modern windows open separately onto each of the four terraces, seemingly extending the residence endlessly toward the outdoors. Broad and open views not only invite flow but also inspire the imagination to wander.

The eastern terrace is subtly enclosed. Continuing from the bedroom, its privacy lends a sense of peace. Like a courtyard in the sky, the exterior walls frame a Hinoki soaking tub, ensconced by a grove of trees in Belgian pots. Light dapples through the canopies of native Amelanchier trees, while a Yew hedge creates a subtle border, contributing to a sense of serenity and protection.

The western terrace is lush, open, and wild. It features crisp white stone, establishing a sense of lightness in tandem with deliberately sunny, open views. Custom-designed copper alloy planters age over time, creating texture across the hard surfaces.

Inspired by a Japanese garden, the southern terrace is enclosed yet fully open to the sky. A proper Zen garden houses the distinguished Banshosho pine, planted for optimal viewpoints of its quiet simplicity from the bedroom below. Finished with sensory-stimulating gravel flooring and custom furniture, the space is a sublime site, melding together elements both traditional and contemporary.

The upper penthouse garden hosts a Gachot-designed pergola, outfitted with an automated louver system to accommodate changing weather conditions. A tapestry of grapevines, Virginia creeper, wisteria, Akebia, and other vines and branches weave artfully into the cables. Custom perimeter zinc planters and structures made of other cast metals enclose the Italian limestone pavers, protecting the garden from all sides.

Collaborator

• HABITERRA NYC
• ATELIER VIERKANT
• AXEL VERVOORDT
• GACHOT STUDIO
• HANSELMAN LANDSCAPE