• index /
  • residences /
    • skyhouse_1. introduction
    • skyhouse_2. slide
    • skyhouse_3. entry / lightwell
    • skyhouse_4. living room
    • skyhouse_5. a bedroom
    • skyhouse_6. another bedroom
    • skyhouse_7. video tour
    • a townhouse on park avenue
    • a duplex apartment on fifth avenue
    • the penthouse of the woolworth building
    • a villa on saint barthes
    • a mountaintop house in the hudson valley
    • an apartment on park avenue
    • a house in the berkshires
    • a duplex penthouse in soho
    • a house addition in princeton
    • a duplex loft in soho
    • a triplex loft in soho
    • a penthouse on central park west
    • a loft in greenwich village
    • a townhouse on long island
  • religious and cultural institutions /
    • the church of saint sarkis
    • the saint sarkis community center
    • the cascade gardens cultural center
    • the united nations general assembly suite
  • art galleries and museums /
    • ordovas gallery_new york
    • cascade gardens_yerevan, armenia
    • sculpture center_new york
    • eyebeam atelier_new york
  • profile /
  • news /
  • links /
  • contact
DAVID HOTSON_ARCHITECT
  • index /
  • residences /
    • skyhouse_1. introduction
    • skyhouse_2. slide
    • skyhouse_3. entry / lightwell
    • skyhouse_4. living room
    • skyhouse_5. a bedroom
    • skyhouse_6. another bedroom
    • skyhouse_7. video tour
    • a townhouse on park avenue
    • a duplex apartment on fifth avenue
    • the penthouse of the woolworth building
    • a villa on saint barthes
    • a mountaintop house in the hudson valley
    • an apartment on park avenue
    • a house in the berkshires
    • a duplex penthouse in soho
    • a house addition in princeton
    • a duplex loft in soho
    • a triplex loft in soho
    • a penthouse on central park west
    • a loft in greenwich village
    • a townhouse on long island
  • religious and cultural institutions /
    • the church of saint sarkis
    • the saint sarkis community center
    • the cascade gardens cultural center
    • the united nations general assembly suite
  • art galleries and museums /
    • ordovas gallery_new york
    • cascade gardens_yerevan, armenia
    • sculpture center_new york
    • eyebeam atelier_new york
  • profile /
  • news /
  • links /
  • contact

skyhouse / chapter four

The Living Room: The main living space occupies the entire north end of the penthouse.  Here the ceiling rises to the underside of the third level terrace and then tapers upward through the full fifty-foot height of the penthouse structure.  At the midpoint, a reading balcony is suspended on the exposed structural girders.  At the attic level the outward sloping glass wall provides a vertiginous vista down to the Living Space four levels below.  Furniture, fabrics, and finishes were designed by Ghislaine Viñas of Ghislaine Viñas Interior Design.

For a more detailed look at SkyHouse please follow the links


The Slide: At the suggestion of the owners, we inserted a mirror polished stainless steel slide that coils down through all four levels of the penthouse.

The slide is entered through a circular hole cut in the seamless sloping glass partition at the south end of the Attic.

Visitors are invited to select a yellow cashmere blanket from the pile beside the entrance to speed their trip to the bottom….

The slide coils around a column and over the double-height guest bedroom. Interior designer Ghislaine Vinas installed a startling mural, inspired by Michael Jackson’s Neverland, in the only vertical wall in the room, scattering shards of saturated color along the mirror-polished surface.   The slide then slips through a second seamless glass window and out over the stair.  Windows in the slide admit natural light from the dormer windows and provide a fleeting vistas through the entire length of the penthouse.

A landing provides an opportunity to make a local stop at the third level or to re-enter the slide to continue the rest of the way down. 

The lower leg coils down through the ceiling and into the Library on the main level, suspended from a single point within the floor structure above. 

As it reaches the end, the helical tube flares out to create a distorted rectangular mirror which forms the wall of the Library and deposits the visitor back at the foot of the staircase.

For a more detailed look at SkyHouse please follow the links below:

chapter one: introduction

chapter two: the slide 

chapter three:  the stairwell

chapter five: a bedroom

chapter six: another bedroom

hotson_skyhouse_X4_film still_exterior from south 2500x1406.jpg
KAUFMAN1301001_0262v_3600.jpg
hotson_skyhouse_E10_living-room-looking-up_2400x3200 EricLaignel.jpg
KAUFMAN1301001_1194v_3600_SQ.jpg
hotson_skyhouse_K3_nest_from-attic_2400.jpg
hotson_skyhouse_G6_nest-at-window_2400.jpg
hotson_skyhouse_G4_view-of-nest-over-livingroom_2400.jpg
hotson_skyhouse_G7_view from nest_2400X3600.jpg
hotson_skyhouse_G1_bridge-to-nest_2400x3600.jpg
KAUFMAN1301001_1148v_3600w.jpg
skyhouse_exterior_daytime_from northwest_rev.jpg