Ricky.pdf

KENIG RESIDENCE

W e renovated this entire brownstone, completed in

2007, for Ricky Kenig father of three daughters and owner

and personality behind the Ricky’s NYC stores. Ricky was

interested in creating a modern haven for his family, in a

beautiful Brooklyn brownstone: a place that offered private

retreat spaces as well as open mixing spaces to spend time

together.

The program of spaces was organized by floor. The base-

ment was finished to become a casual family den-type room

with a pool table and couches, etc. The ground floor level was

opened up to become a loft-like living room and kitchen with

an exterior wood deck floating outside, over the backyard. The

second floor became the girls’ floor with bedrooms, a study,

kid-lounge and bath. Bachelor retreat was the idea of the third

and top floor, with a home office, bedroom and bath.

Tying the home together, the stair acts as a

spine from basement to third floor. We were

interested in allowing this to read as a distinct

element and so structured it to rise free of the

adjacent walls. A new skylight was inserted

into the roof, above the stair, accentuating

the vertical rise and bringing natural light

down into the home. The wall behind the

stair was finished with sheets of blackened

steel that run continuously from the parlor

level to the roof. Display elements can be

easily affixed to the wall using magnets. By

creating an entirely flexible “canvas of metal”

we offered a space with infinite possibilities

for visuals. The flexibility of the magnet wall

fosters the creation of zones organically, as

people affix items of interest to them at their

own floor—alternately the entire stair could be

rigorously curated. We felt that the flexibility of

the display wall mechanism was appropriate

particularly for a family so rooted in a retail

tradition.