This 4,000 sqf loft renovation on the top floor of a former garment factory in New York’s  Chelsea neighborhood serves as a photo studio and apartment for the owner, a physician and photographer specialized in Daguerreotypes.

Originally built out as a traditional 3-bedroom apartment, the new layout provides a maximum of open studio space, a central darkroom and a secluded sleep and bath area.

Inspired by the photographic silver plates used by the owner and his collection of surgical instruments, the aesthetics of the loft explores the use of metallic surfaces and organic forms. Specific functions, such as darkroom and fireplace are sealed in curved silver colored enclosures. These reflective objects occupy the cleared out white box of the loft, defining areas of different use without physical separation. The walls and doors of the private quarters are dissolved into metallic and translucent surfaces, modulated by the changing hues of the entering daylight.

The kitchen, all built-in closets, the darkroom equipment and the entire bathroom were custom-built in stainless steel.

Photos by Paul Rivera, Archphoto.