East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio

East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - Stairs, HandrailEast Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - Image 3 of 12East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - HandrailEast Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - Image 5 of 12East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - More Images+ 7

Text description provided by the architects. Extraordinary views in the heart of the city and a small buildable footprint limited by restrictive easements prompted a thin, three-story home with the main living spaces and master suite on the top floor – essentially a one-bedroom loft with 270° views. A 16’ ipe screen envelopes the body of the house, and rests delicately atop a base of long courses of black Leuders limestone.

East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - Facade, Windows
© Paul Finkel Photography

Photographs and details of East Windsor Residence after the break.

East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - Image 5 of 12
© Paul Finkel Photography

The visitor enters through a pivoting glass door, where the natural stone gives way to its dressed counterpart, and is immediately greeted by a stair of massive ebonized oak treads floating above twin steel channels, and hanging in a three-story vertical space. Beyond, an etched glass wall captures the projected shadows of a stand of giant bamboo, and a band of clear glass directs one’s gaze out to a private garden.

East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - Stairs, Beam, Handrail, Windows
© Paul Finkel Photography

Punctuating the ipe facade are two steel box windows, their mirror-like reflection or deep shadow are posed against the filigree of the screen. In the evening this screen transforms into a lantern revealing a collection of spaces behind. The screen also holds the possibility of transforming the building when two 10’ sections dramatically unfold and reveal the formal dining room.

East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - Handrail
© Paul Finkel Photography

Upstairs, efforts are made to embrace the expansive view with an unmitigated ceiling plane that provides a surface for reflected light, while the screen’s 18” extension above the floor level gently corrals the visitor. Adjacent power lines to the west are eschewed, although a constellation of portholes arrayed across this wall embrace the dramatic western light and enliven the facade from the high street beyond. Here, an open plan is accentuated by laminated low-e corner glazing, twin Akari lanterns and sliding panels. Exquisitely matched Lacewood veneer cabinetry and a marble bathing area punctuate the ensemble and add a sense of finesse and delicacy throughout.

East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio - Fence, Facade, Handrail
© Paul Finkel Photography

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Cite: "East Windsor Residence / Alter Studio" 30 Oct 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/84412/east-windsor-residence-alter-studio> ISSN 0719-8884

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