Modern Homes in Upper Manhattan

A second-story balcony overlooks a small yard.

Brooklyn architect Tim Seggerman designed and built what he calls a “crafted jewel box”. Utilizing the petite space in his New York apartment Seggerman creates an enveloping cabin of blond woods.

“When I first thought of moving to Harlem, I looked at a map,” says Ryall. “The island’s about 210 blocks long, I’m near 110th Street—I thought, ‘It’s right in the center of Manhattan.’”

The homeowners, who are avid cooks, worked with a design duo and contractor for the home's renovation. To make the kitchen seem larger than it is, the team decided to place the largest cabinets and appliances near the entryway, making less clutter toward the window.

The Zizmors extended their living room by installing an 8-by-15-foot sliding glass door, which leads to an outdoor dining area built six feet above the alley. To make the outdoors feel like it's part of the living room, and not a separate patio, they ran the same horizontal pattern of ipe wood slats from the indoors out.

The design team enclosed the vestibule of the front entrance to offer an area in which everyone can remove shoes and coats. The dining area boasts a handmade pendant by The Light Factory in Baltimore, Maryland. The table is from Blu Dot; the chairs are from Ikea. The flooring is natural bamboo from Dyerich.

A new residential building in upper Manhattan, dubbed The Stack and designed by the architecture firm Gluck+, employed offsite prefabrication methods to create a high-quality, affordable housing solution that was raised onsite in only 19 days.

Eric Schneider and Michael Chen take in the space-efficient renovation.

In the kitchen, the architects contrasted the oak floor, bamboo cabinetry, and birch walls and ceiling with what architect Jonathan Knowles calls “a family of grays”: granite floor tiles, limestone countertops, and the steel stairway. The birch wall behind Yvette is actually the sliding door to the pantry closet.